Post Pals - Post a Smile on a Sick Child's Face

Party 2011

2011-07-01T11:26:00.001-07:00

On Saturday the 25th we held our annual party which see’s volunteers and families coming from all over the UK to celebrate- this year Alan (from Wales) took Courtenay (from Wales) crown for longest distance travelled although Karen from the Isle of Wight still has hers for most modes of transport used in one day!

When the kids arrived they quickly jumped on our bouncy activity centre or climbed our giant slide- we couldn’t believe that 2 year old Toby made it up, I’m told every single time he got to the bottom he would hold up a little finger and say “one more time” before scurrying back up and sliding down again! People also tucked into our giant sweet bowl and wonderful cupcakes from Heaven is a Cupcake.

Krya (Jayde D’s sister)

Toby (Zachary H's brother)

Ruby J

There was also face painting from Pirate Scrumpy who proceeded to do a fantastic show and take them on a magical adventure which resulted in some treasure for each child. Thank you to Daisy’s family for organising it and Johanna from Octopus Parties for doing such a great show.

Most of the girls had flowers painted on their arms by Pirate Scrumpy but Tyanna (Courtenay’s sister) requested being made into “a dude”

After lunch there was lots of chatting, and lots and lots of playing, from crazy golf (which the adults enjoyed too!), to playing with streamers and trumpets and of course the slide was in constant use! As all the children either have an illness or disability (or a brother or sister with one) the families can relax and not worry, Poppy and Dominic decided to compare ‘Tubies’. Harry’s family always say its “the one day of the year we don’t have to pretend to be ‘normal’”

Poppy and Dominic comparing their tubes

We then had a visit from a caricaturist who did the most wonderful drawings of all the children who wanted one done, she was great at just sitting chatting to them while drawing. Dominic couldn’t help but have regularly peeps at how it was coming along

Dominic

Jessica M and Megan H

Thank you to Helen from Drawn by Helen

We then drew our raffle which had lots of prizes on (we like to make sure each child wins at least a few times), a big thank you to Jill and 7 and ¾ year old Grace who had dropped by some amazing bunting Jill had made the night before and ended up wrapping lots and lots of prizes to make them look pretty!

Coral with her prize

Ruby, Poppy and Dominic checking out their prizes

Viks getting the kids to choose tickets (Thanks Ian for taking over the shouting out of numbers!)

Then we tucked into our amazing cake designed just for us and kindly donated by Lucy Lou Cakes

Kate W, Kate D and Viks cutting the cake, some how we have gone from being known as the Post Pal Girls to the Three Stooges!

It was then time for the saddest time but very important time of the day, the releasing of 31 balloons with forget me not seeds in, the number grows every year but it was an honour to get to know and make smile all 31 Pals who sadly passed away since Post Pals started. A volunteer spotted a balloon which looked just like one of ours and had a tag on by a road in Norwich (we released them in Surrey) although the road was too busy to stop and get it, hopefully that means that one day beautiful forget-me-not’s will be growing at the road side for motorists to see.

The kids then played a little more before collecting party bags or candy kebabs (party bags for the younger ones, kebabs for the teenagers) and a noisy ball for Harry, it was then time for our good bye’s.
So many people came to our party and lots of people made donations/gave discounts to make the party possible, it was a wonderful day and I look forward to seeing you all next year!

Few more pictures

Being disabled didn't stop Eleanor going down the slide

Nor Kate D and Viks!

And the smile the photo that sums up the day...

Different but making a difference

2011-06-16T16:51:00.002-07:00

Some people (I'm talking in general) get annoyed with us for not doing X, Y or Z, we don't respond quickly or various other things. I’m posting to say that Post Pals isn't your normal charity, basically 3 of us run it from beds and (and our hospital beds) which we are confined to.

For most charity workers an extra hours work means less time to do some housework or to socialise, to me it results in hours of total paralysis or spending the night feeling awful, pain through the roof (morphine doesn't touch it) and being violently sick. The other 2 of us have health repercussions from doing things too. We are willing to go through this though as it's the price we pay for knowing a terminally ill child had something in their last days to smile about or a child stuck in hospital feels not forgotten.

We don't have a big PR machine in the background, sending our cutest kids stories out to get donations or send constant requests for money (we need donations to keep running and the more we get the more we can do but we want people to feel they can make a difference with just a postage stamp), we also don't have a dedicated fundraising team, an outreach team, a grants officer. We are just young people (who were forced out of education by health), with no little black book of contacts but unlike most charities we aim to provide daily support to sick kids AND siblings every single day.

All we ask next time your frustrated with us or see us smiling at the party (my first non medical trip out the house this year and the thing that will take us all MONTHS to recover from), take a moment to remember we aren't paid office workers, working 9-5 who only put in minimal effort. We are doing our utter most best because we care about every single one of our kids.
We maybe different but we make a huge difference, just please try to understand us.

“It is a very wonderful thing that people who do not know you, have never spoken to you, can take the time and trouble to make a difference to your life in such a special and significant way. It is not just about receiving a card, so many other things are within it- compassion,warmth,friendship,support and love and we can never truly explain how that helps", Kelly Mum to Chloe G, aged 7, Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia”

If you would like to make a donate please please do, you can donate via Everyclick (like Justgiving) here or send a cheque made payable to “Post Pals” and sent to POBOX 278, PO Box 278, Leatherhead, Surrey, KT23 4WN, UK

Alice's Bucket list

2011-06-16T16:51:00.001-07:00

Incase you haven't come across the tweets and Facebook postings, Alice P has created a "Bucket List" with her wishes on it. You can read it and help by visiting her blog http://alicepyne.blogspot.com/

Please don't forget as well that Alice's sister Milly is also going through an awful lot and is need of smiles and support. You can send them both some cheerful post by going to Alice's page

Thank you!

Milly and Alice with their Post Pal Quilts

Donating

2011-06-16T16:50:00.001-07:00

Hello, thank you to those who fundraise and donate to us. Unfortunately PayPal decided to freeze our account after someone kindly gave us a large donation, so at the moment its out of action! Its easy to donate to us via Everyclick which is like Justgiving except it passes all the money onto us (straight into our bank account).

We are submitting our accounts to the Charity Commission at the moment, we spent most last year than we had coming in but that was because we were so busy making so many children smile!

Thank you to everyone who donates via Everyclick, Cheque or Bank transfer- it all makes a huge difference

Time to party- this month!

2011-06-16T16:49:00.000-07:00

Hello, its that time of year when we announce when this year’s birthday party will be. The date is set for June 25th and everyone is welcome, whether you are a Post Pal family (past, present or future), volunteer, fundraiser, supporter or would just like to get more involved in Post Pals, then pop on down!

There’s entertainment for the kids, a bouncy castle (meant to be for the kids but I think the adults enjoy it even more...), prizes to be won and a forget-me-not balloon release to remember the kids we have lost.

Full wheelchair access, indoor and outdoor space, parking, and fenced off from the road. There is a Travel Lodge nearby in Leatherhead and we will be able to pick people up/drop them off from Leatherhead station or the Travel Lodge on the day.

Would be great to see you all there!

Arriving between 12 and 12.30 with the entertainer starting about 12.45/1pm, and is at Lawrence's Church Hall, Browns Lane, Effingham, KT24 5NL

We were hacked, but we are back!

2011-06-16T16:47:00.001-07:00

Unfortunately we were hacked today, however we are now fully up and running, passwords changed, their content deleted, and we are back to doing what we do bes t- creating smiles!

Let's overcome our hacking and get sending lots of post. I was hoping this month we could pay some extra attention to brothers and sisters. We have always known that including siblings in receiving post is very very important and finding this video last week just confirmed it. It included research done by a children’s hospital which found that;

"Siblings have been identified as the most emotionally neglected and unhappy of all family members during serious childhood illness."

"27% of siblings of a child with cancer qualify for a diagnosis of post traumatic stress syndrome."

Take a look at this video to see if it inspires you to help a sibling and if it does it couldn't be easier to make them smile. All the Pals have details of their siblings listed with their interests, so grab a pen, or go here and get writing!

"Amy always looks on the mat every morning to see if she has any post and loves opening her mail. The boys also love receiving their post and it dosent make them feel left out either. Post Pals puts back some faith into us that people do really care, not just the staff at her hospital and family, but people out in the world do actually read what the kids put on Post Pals and take time out to read about the illness and go out to get cards or sit and write to a child they don't even know. Some people do really care out there." - Louise, Mum to Pal Amy P, aged 9 Diamond Blackfan Anemia.

Sad news - Alicia R

2011-06-16T16:46:00.005-07:00

We are very sad to say that Alicia R passed away today in hospital with her parents by her side. She was friends with Daisy, and Daisy's Mum Stephanie says;

"Alicia's courage, determination, strength and will to live was such an inspiration to everyone who knew her - she embraced life and when she was not in hospital she lived life to the full going to brownies, school, holidays with her family, bouncing on the trampoline with her brother. I know Alicia's family would want you to know how much comfort they all got from the support of Post Pals and how it made both Alicia and Nico smile."

Photo of Alicia and her Mummy taken last month.
12/12/2000-17/05/2011

"It's not how long a star shines, what is remembered is the brightness of the light."

Time to party!

2011-06-16T16:46:00.003-07:00

Hello, its that time of year when we announce when this year’s birthday party will be. The date is set for June 25th and everyone is welcome, whether you are a Post Pal family (past, present or future), volunteer, fundraiser, supporter or would just like to get more involved in Post Pals, then pop on down!

There’s entertainment for the kids, a bouncy castle (meant to be for the kids but I think the adults enjoy it even more...), prizes to be won and a forget-me-not balloon release to remember the kids we have lost.

Full wheelchair access, indoor and outdoor space, parking, and fenced off from the road. There is a Travel Lodge nearby in Leatherhead and we will be able to pick people up/drop them off from Leatherhead station or the Travel Lodge on the day.

Would be great to see you all there!

Starts around 12, and is at Lawrence's Church Hall, Browns Lane, Effingham, KT24 5NL

Sad news- Matthew P

2011-06-16T16:46:00.001-07:00

We are very sad to say that Matthew passed away yesterday peacefully with his family around him.

10/03/2005-01/02/2011
"Its now how long a star shines, what is remembered is the brightness of the light"

Why we include siblings

2011-06-16T16:45:00.001-07:00

At Post Pals we like to include brothers and sisters and have done from day one. Dominic B's Mum eloquently explains what they go through and how your post helps (thanks Renata).

Dominic has been in hospital for 4 and a half months. He goes through so much and constantly amazes me with his courage and humour. Since I have been sharing his journey with Post Pals and those who visit the site I have been constantly amazed that day afer day we have had the pleasure of being reminded how much kindness still exists is the world.

Each and every letter and parcel that people send brightens his day. What perhaps goes unsaid all too often is how his being in hospital affects his brother and sister. Yes it's awful for any child to be in hospital for a long time, or to live with disabilities or chronic health problems, but there is a different challenge faced by the siblings. In my family certainly, I think life is currently much harder for them in many ways. It's easy to think that the children that remain at home when a child is ill and in hospital are lucky to be in good health and surrounded by their toys and home comforts. But I doubt, if anyone actually asked them, if they would feel lucky at all. For my two older children the most important thing in their life has been stolen away, as Mummy stays with Dominic in the hospital. The security, the bedtime kisses, the brushed hair in the morning and special way they like their breakfast is all snatched away as well. They are passed from one person to another in an effort to keep their basic needs met and they get only a phonecall at night to tell Mummy everything, when they try and be brave, but always say the same thing 'I just want you to come home Mummy'.

So yes Dominic undoubtedly benefits enormously from each smile that arrives in his hospital room and brightens his day, but the rest of the time he has me for all the kisses and cuddles he needs. He has nurses making a fuss and all the attention from the doctors who adore him. Attention is something that unfortunately is often over looked in the desperate struggle to organise childcare and keep life as 'normal' as possible for the other two. It often feels like Lilia and Elliot are the forgotten heroes in all of this. Bravely getting on with things, their true feelings only showing in the early hours when they can't stop sobbing for Mummy.

Life will continue to be difficult for all the children when we return. Desperate to spend time with them and spoil them, but so busy caring for their little brother they will carry on making sacrifices. They sacrifice so much for their little brother both when he is in hospital and when we are home, they accept that we cannot do what their friends do and that nothing is ever 'definitely' going to happen, as you never know with a child like Dominic, and they have been disappointed too many times.

Post Pals is one charity that doesn't forget about the brothers and sisters who are quietly and less obviously brave and coping with emotions and situations that would break most adults. The utter delight when they get letters and parcels that are addressed to them or include them has caused me to shed a tear on more than one occassion. They deserve the smiles just as much as Dominic, and I truly think it makes being the brave older brother or sister that little bit easier.

So a heartfelt thank you to each and every person who has taken the time to post something that has brought such a lot of joy to all of my family, each smile is one more moment when they get to be the carefree children that they should be.

Elliot, Lilia and Dominic with their Post Pal pillow cases.

Sad news-Jaz

2010-11-07T05:44:00.001-08:00

I'm very sad to say Jaz passed away last night after her 3 year fight with cancer.

Thank you to everyone who sent her post, or helped her tick something off her "bucket list". Please keep sending cheerful post to Jaz's sister Jess.

"Its not how long a star shines, what is remembered is the brightness of the light".

Sad news- Ben H

2010-10-07T09:02:00.003-07:00

Yesterday we heard the sad news that Ben H sadly passed away after his long battle with a brain tumour. Ben had only been with Post Pals for a couple of months but loved his post, especially post with pictures on.

15/07/2005-05/10/2010

Post Pal documentary

2010-10-07T09:02:00.001-07:00

Laura kindly made a little documentary about Post Pals for her uni project, she has done a fantastic job so please check it out! It features volunteers, families we have helped, and Martyn Lewis (from the BBC News)

Thank you Laura!

Please check your postage

2010-10-07T09:01:00.001-07:00

Someone is very kindly donating craft bits to us every week and sending it to the PO BOX (with no name or address to get in touch). However, they are only putting on one stamp which means my parents have to go and collect it from the sorting office and pay £1.19 a time and it is proving rather expensive. We are very grateful but it is a reminder to everyone to please check your postage as Royal Mail's newish system is a pain!

Sad news- Ashley

2010-09-08T01:37:00.001-07:00

I'm sad to say that at 2.10am this morning Ashley passed away at his local hospice with his Mum and Dad with him.

He was a very brave Jedi who took on cancer the same way he took on Darth Vader. Thank you to everyone who sent Ashley post over the past 2 years, please keep sending cheerful post to his sister Amber.

This is a photo of him at our Post Pal party in June,

30/12/2002-08/09/2010
"Its not how long a star shines, what is remembered is the brightness of the light"

Sad news - Lewis R

2010-07-13T08:57:00.001-07:00

I'm very sad to say Lewis R passed away this afternoon. Lewis joined Post Pals a few months ago and loved his post. He also didn't have a bed so we contacted Georgie's Fund who sent him a fantastic bed, lovely bedding, and a huge pile of goodies for Lewis and his sister Georgia (who you can still send post to).

Lewis
14/09/2007-03/07/2010

Sad news - Amelia-Grace

2010-07-13T08:56:00.002-07:00

I'm very sad to say Amelia passed away last night. Her Mum sent this message to everyone;

After a brave and valiant fight Amelia-Grace became an angel last night peacefully with her mummy and daddy around her. The most amazing young girl that many will ever meet forever in our hearts.

Instead of posting a picture I thought I would post this which Post Pals made and turned into a pillowcase for her.

27/10/2001-24/06/2010

Sad news - Chintzia 23/6/10

2010-07-13T08:56:00.001-07:00

I just heard the very sad news that Chintzia passed away today. She joined Post Pals a few months ago and loved her post.

06/06/2007-23/06/2010

"It is not how long a star shines, what is remembered is the brightness of the light."

Russell Howard Donations

2010-07-13T08:55:00.001-07:00

In April we were on the Russell Howard Good News Show and got an amazing response. Not only did lots of post get sent but also people sent donations. For years I have wanted to do personalised pillowcases and now we can afford to do it :) We are doing them for over 150 children so it’s going to take a while but here is a picture of a few of them.

Ruby (who has been in hospital for 6 months) as a fairy

Elliot (Dominic’s brother) is a big Doctor Who fan

Hanna with a more grown up design

Alan wanted an army one with his name

Zachary H (who is also in hospital) wanted a helicopter or Peppa Pig one- he got both in one design

So a big thank you to everyone who made a donation. If you would like to make one our PayPal address is info@postpals.co.uk and cheques made payable to 'Post Pals' can be sent to Post Pals, PO Box 278, Leatherhead, Surrey, KT23 4WN. Bank transfers can also be done if you would like the details then please email fundraising@postpals.co.uk

If you're new and not sure what to say or what to send then please see our guide below this entry.

Thanks again!

What to say and what not to say

2010-05-29T08:03:00.001-07:00

Quite a few people ask “What do I say?" when writing to our Pals. Some people are even put off writing because they aren’t sure. Although we have some info on our FAQ page, I thought I would write a post about it.

Starting off with what we advise against saying:

“Get Well Soon”, a well meaning great phrase, providing it is a healthy person who has appendicitis or something similar, who will have a time of being ill then get better soon. It’s not such a good phrase if your illness is never going to go away, you're young and don’t realise you're ill or any different to any other kid, or worse still - that will never get better.

“I hope you win your battle”, a lot of the children don’t know they could ‘lose their battle’, and others might not want to be reminded that they may not.

“I know how you feel”, have you been through the same thing as the child or parent? Even then everyone reacts and feels differently about things.

“You're so brave”, bravery is one of those things that is relative, what is bravery? Is bravery getting on with living when you have an illness or is it when you take a brave decision? Some kids like hearing they have been brave, others don’t.

“Sorry you're ill/poorly/sick”, see get well soon above.

“Poor you”- empathy is good, but sympathy isn’t generally wanted. Also see above about kids often not knowing any difference.

“I don’t know how you do it”, simple answer - kids and their parents don’t get a choice in the matter.

“Write back”, we ask that you enclose your address and email address so if able Pals can reply to can you, but please don’t expect one.

Now going onto what we suggest you could say. This depends greatly on the age;

Now for things TO say

Talk about yourself, are you a teenager, do you have kids, do you live in England or America, do you work in a school with other children or something else?

Do you have pets, are they cute, do they do silly things like hide your slippers behind the radiator (I once had a dog who did this!), does your parrot say funny things, does a squirrel in your garden do strange things to get to the bird seeds?

Have you been on any day trips or holidays It's great to pick up a postcard from where you have been and write on the back (gift shops often have them), was it a fun day, any funny bits of history about the place, did a bird poop on you or did you drop your icecream everywhere?

Jokes and funny poems you can Google “kids jokes” or “kids poems” and thousands will come up, or you can google “Star Wars jokes” for the kids who are fans of Star Wars or “animal jokes” for those who love animals.

For ones of the right age group, have you been watching Britain’s got talent/X Factor/the latest program like it? Who is your favourite act, what made you laugh? Who do you want to win?

For younger ones (remember we have some children whose mental age is behind their physical age and there will be a note on their page explaining this) what Cbeebies character do you like, is Mr Tumbles funny, does Peppa Pink oink all the time, can you say “Hello” in Spanish like Dora the Explora can and what's your favourite Wiggles song? Often if you google the program or go onto the Cbeebies website you can find printable pictures for the kids to colour or pictures you could stick onto the front of a card.

Write about what is on the front of the card, if there a dog - then talk about a dog you know (I sometimes put things from the past into the present tense), is it a funny picture, could the picture give you an idea of what to write about?

Draw a picture or have your kids draw one, they can brighten up a hospital wall and make the child smile

Include a little gift - this doesn’t have to be expensive, once I sent some confetti stars (cost about 3p) to a young child who was screaming through her chemo and nothing they were trying would calm her down. They gave her some post to open and when she opened my card some confetti stars tumbled out. She stopped crying and started making pretty patterns with it. Another girl got sent a pretty bouncy ball that cost less than 10p, she decided a magic fairy lived in it and took it with her to the hospital or school or where ever she was going so her fairy could always be with her. It also gives you something to talk about.

Over all remember that just because a child has cancer, cystic fibrosis or is on the transplant list, they are still first and foremost a child. Also remember your post is going to make them SMILE, what is more precious than that?

Sad news- Nicole D

2010-05-29T08:02:00.000-07:00

I received the sad and very unexpected news that Nicole D passed away suddenly from another brain haemorrhage.

She was in remission, doing great, and had written 2 books which featured Post Pals. The last thing she wrote on her site was;

Finally, I’d just like to remind everyone again of the fab website: Post Pals which supports seriously ill children by ‘posting a smile on their faces’. In the last month they’ve lost four little girls and one little boy from cancer, and three of those passed away within the same week. I wanted to mention Post Pals again in the hope that some of you will visit the site and write to a child to cheer them up while they’re ill. I used to be a pal and it really does make a difference.

Normally when a Pal passes away I sign off with one of my favourite photos of them but don't say why it's my favourite. However I thought I would share the story behind it. When Nicole's cancer returned (which in May this year scans showed she was still in remission from), she knew she was going to loose her hair, and being the queen of pink she decided if she had to have a wig she wanted a pink one - not exactly something the NHS do! So I sent various emails and did some research - Sparkling Strawberry kindly donated 7 different styles of pink wigs - one for every day of the week. The photo on the back of Nicole's first book was her in one of them.

09/02/1989-16/05/2010

Sad news- Rhianna

2010-05-29T08:01:00.000-07:00

We have some sad news, Rhianna passed away on the 5th of May. She had been with Post Pals for a year and half, and loved getting post. She had a huge box of gifts that had been donated to Post Pals and was kindly sending them out to the other children as she knew it would make them smile.

23/03/1997-05/05/2010

Incase you missed it... (19 April 2010))

2010-05-05T11:33:00.000-07:00

New to Post Pals? (15 April 2010)

2010-05-05T11:32:00.001-07:00

Hello if you are new to Post Pals and found us via Russell Howard tonight, thank you for visiting our site and wanting to make a sick child smile.

There are lots of ways to get involved, so grab a pen or open your emails and within 5 minutes you can create some smiles like those featured in the video clip. Click on “Find a Pal”, then read through the current children and pick someone to write to – be it a seriously ill child or their sibling (we feel it is important that siblings are remembered as they can often feel left out attention wise in their life), and send a card, letter, little gift or email to the address on their page. If you are stuck for who to write to we have a TLC list with those most in need of smiles. The little girl featured in the video is Megan H.

You can join us on Facebook or Twitter too, just search for Post Pals.

Thank you again for wanting to make a child smile.

Sad news - Jamie (14 April 2010)

2010-05-05T11:31:00.000-07:00

I have more sad news, sadly Jamie passed away on Saturday. Her Mum said 'thank you to everyone at Post Pals who kept Jamie smiling every day'. She also said how 'Jamie had fought every day through 2 years of treatment without complaining'. That's something us adults would never do.

02/08/2004-10/04/2010

Sad news - Kian (11 April 2010)

2010-05-05T11:30:00.002-07:00

Kian joined Post Pals around June last year, shortly after he was admitted to hospital where he stayed until last week. As there was nothing more the doctors could do for Kian, he went to Thomas Land on Tuesday and had an amazing day. We were arranging for a special suit so he could go swimming on his wish trip to Center Parcs, but sadly Kian became too ill and passed away Friday evening in his Mum's arms and with his family around him.

He loved getting post so thank you to everyone who sent him a smile in the post or made a donation to try and help him go swimming.

Kian
04/01/2007-09/03/2010

Women on their Way Award (08 April 2010)

2010-05-05T11:30:00.001-07:00

Hello, last month I was proud to win a Women on Their Way Award although as it was at such a sad time I didn't post about it. I wasn't well enough to go to the awards myself so it is being presented to me in bed some time in May. They played this video featuring myself and Megan H's family.

Alice meets Cesar Millan!

2010-03-24T16:16:00.000-07:00

Nothing can take away from the sadness we are all feeling at the moment, knowing 3 Post Pal families lost a child in just one week, however I wanted to share some nice news from another family.

One of Alice P’s drams for a long time has been to meet Cesar Millan and his best friend, American Pit Bull, Daddy. Sadly, Daddy passed away just a few weeks ago, but with lots of emails and phone calls by lots of people her dream came true!

We didn’t know if firstly it would be possibly to meet Cesar and secondly if Alice would be well enough so we tried to get an autograph. Our treasuer Jan went to one of his shows and gave a card (a dog one of course), a print out of some of Alice’s page and a note saying she would love to hear from him and we crossed our fingers he would send it. Last week Alice opened her post to find a card from none other than Cesar himself! She was over the moon and said she wanted it framing, however she didn’t know what was to come!

Alice had been told she was having a weekend away in Liverpool to go shopping as its near the hospital “just incase”. After a rest at the hotel she like everyone else was looking at a huge white Hummer which was parked outside, her Mum said she deserved to get to their dinner reservation in style! A hour of disco lights and extremely loud music later they arrived at the Echo Arena. Her parents then told Alice ad Milly that they were going to see the Cesar show and she was so excited to have VIP front of house tickets. In the interval Cesar’s assistant came out to call Alice who was well and truly speechless! They were all invited backstage into Cesar’s dressing room and he was so sweet with the girls. Alice hardly spoke a word!

Here is a lovely photograph of them together.

A special thank you to everyone who sent emails left right and center, to Elaine from the Thomas Ball Fund who paid for the Limo, to people who made donations so Post Pals could contribute, to Susan and to Cesar. Everyone has made Alice one very happy girl!

While talking about Alice I thought I would post about a little project we are doing for her. If you have a dog or your friend does please send Alice a photo of them with a little information, when she is in hospital she is going to make a scrap book from them. If you don’t have a dog you can still make Alice smile by sending her some dog themed post, can she receive some from all around the world? Her address is on her page here.

Spit a bit to save a child

2010-03-24T16:06:00.001-07:00

Hello, I apologise in advance that this news update is rather 'bitty'.

Firstly, thank you to everyone who has been sending post to Sophie and her sister Jessica. Their aunt said “Sophie and Jessica have been inundated with post of gifts, cards and messages. It has been wonderful to see the few smiles Sophie has given today and Jess has been in her element opening all your lovely parcels. Thank you Post Pals, you do an amazing job, what a fantastic and rewarding organisation and THANKYOU so much to all you amazing people out there who have taken the time to make Sophie and Jessica's last days together as special for them as it can be under the circumstances by sending all of these gifts.”

She has been sent lots of things ranging from a giant teddy bear, Peppa Pig sticker book, Peppa Pig balloons, audio books, cards and lots of other post! I was struck with pride at the way all our volunteers sprung into action so quickly and also at how day in day out they send smiles to children. Some are new to it, some have been sending post since our early days in 2003, some are ill themselves, and a lot of Post Pal families send post to other Pals. Sophie is very weak but fighting on so please keep sending post!

A lot of other Pals are having a tough time at the moment, including Madison who is now too ill for any more chemo, her cancer has spread and it is affecting her breathing. Ashley is undergoing new chemo to try and hold back the progression of his, and Alice is being hit by harsh chemo too. Our volunteer Jane (owner of Percy the Poodle who you will often see mentioned on Pals pages) is organising a project which we need your help for.

**DOGGIE POST FOR ALICE WHO IS FIGHTING CANCER**
Do you have a dog? So you know someone who does? Can you take a photo of him/her and send it to Alice with a few letter about their name, age, favourite toys, food and how they like to spend their days. Alice is absolutely mad about dogs so is going to save all the photos in a scrapbook. Send them to the address on her page here.

Alice is one of many children and adults who are waiting to find a bone marrow donor. Could you spit a bit and save a child?

ARE YOU 18 to 49?
Then 'SPIT A BIT' to save a child

Yes you read right, we desperately need your help. Our daughter needs a bone marrow donor and it’s critical. By clicking on the link you can visit Anthony Nolan Trust, complete the form, order a saliva kit and get tested. If there's a chance of matching, you will be invited for a test to investigate further. You could save a life – if you are between 18 and 40, please take action today - it really doesn't take much to register. http://www.anthonynolan.org.uk/donating/howtojointheregister

If you are older than 40, but still under 50, you can join the NHS bone donor the next time you give blood (ask before your regular or first time blood donation is taken) click on - http://www.nhsbt.nhs.uk/bonemarrow/ and read more about the BBMR (British Bone Marrow Registry). If you don't currently give blood, then this is your opportunity to do something about it and join. If you're in America you can join at a bone marrow drive or http://www.abmdr.org/Home.asp

Please email this request to everyone - work colleagues, friends, family, neighbours - in fact, everyone in your contacts list. Post to Facebook, Twitter and wherever else you can, including links to Anthony Nolan and the BBMR. The number of potential bone marrow donors on the register is currently just 400,000 - it's not nearly enough. Let's see if we can significantly increase that number through a viral email.

If you copy and paste this onto a new email rather than forwarding, and then send using 'BCC', recipients won't end up with realms of email addresses at the top.

Thank you for your help.

Sad news- Sophie

2010-03-24T16:05:00.003-07:00

I'm very sad to say Sophie passed away last night in her Mum and Dads arms. Sophie was only with Post Pals for 17 days, however she captured the hearts of all our volunteers and inspired lots of new ones.

There is a very cute video on Sophie on her website here, I will always remember her when I see bubbles now.

Sophie
15/11/2007-12/03/2010

Sad news- Holly

2010-03-24T16:05:00.001-07:00

I was very sad to log on today to read that Holly peacefully passed away at 4.22am, her Mum was by her side and holding her hand.

She was with Post Pals for less than a week but will always be a part of it. Our thoughts are with all her friends and family.

02/12/1997-19/03/2010

Sad news- Madi

2010-03-24T16:02:00.000-07:00

I'm very sad to say that Madison P passed away last night in the hospice with her Mum, Dad and sisters by her side. She was expected to have less than 6 months when she was diagnosed over 2 years ago and was given the nickname "Miracle Madi". She loved getting post so thank you to everyone who has sent her post over the past 15 months since her family joined Post Pals.

30/08/2005-18/03/2010

Urgent Post appeal for a very poorly little girl

2010-02-24T09:25:00.000-08:00

Hello, I'm desperately trying to find some people to send a card for a very poorly little girl who has just joined Post Pals. She is called Sophie and is 2 years old, she has been battling cancer since she was 15 months old and sadly she probably only has a matter of days left. Her family would love for her to get some cheerful post to make her smile

It would be great if any of you would like to make her smile, her address (and her 4 year old sister's Jessica) can be seen here http://www.postpals.co.uk/pals/sophie+a Cards need to be sent first class and check her page before sending anything.

Thank you,

Vikki

Party date 2010

2010-01-11T18:58:00.002-08:00

Stop Press...

Post Pal Party will be taking part on 26th of June 2010 in Surrey, everyones welcome!

Happy 2010

2010-01-11T18:58:00.001-08:00

Hello, our Pal Ryan, who isn't very well at the moment, loves getting post and collects key rings, so we are asking if people around the world could send a key ring to him. We have a virtual map for you to place yourself on once you have sent it. The details are here

We are also still looking for volunteers for our January Smiles project. Could you put a box together of things to make a child smile? Anything from gifts to funny poems to jokes? If you can please email Lorna on lornarogers@hotmail.com

This month is always quiet post wise, so we are doing our best to get as many cards, letters, little gifts and emails sent.

Our TLC list of children having an extremely difficult time is very long at the moment, you can find it here

We hope you have the best 2010 possible, I will be posting an update about 2009 in the next few days.

January Smiles

2010-01-11T18:57:00.002-08:00

We still need lots more volunteers

Scientists say that January 25th will be the most depressing day of 2010. No more so than when you have a year ahead of fighting for your life. We are looking for volunteers to put together a box of things to make a child smile, it could be little gifts that you pick up in the sales, funny poems, teddies, anything that will make the child smile :)

If you would like to volunteer then please email Lorna on lornarogers@hotmail.com

Red Cross Award

2010-01-11T18:57:00.001-08:00

Another back dated entry
November 2009

I am very happy (and honoured) to say that I won an award from the Red Cross this week. It is the "2009's Humanitarian Citizen Award" for my Post Pal work. I was very, VERY shocked to say the least! We all had photographs taken of us wearing superhero masks and it probably won’t surprise you to know we asked to take them all home for the Pals as they are the true heroes!

There is a little video here

On other Post Pal news, I have given a couple of talks lately to Effingham Villagers and Box Hill Villagers. Thank you to them for inviting me and for their donations and at the end we all did a postcard writing session. Thank you also to Solo's (a sub group of Effingham Villagers) who made a donation too. For the talk I did a slideshow about Post Pals, the first half contains some upsetting images, but the second is full of smiles. Make sure you have your speakers on.

www.OneTrueMedia.com

We have been busy spending the donations! A little box of chocolates have been sent to all the Post Pal parents and we are working on getting a gift to all 130 children too. Once we have finished sending a gift to everyone, we will start all over again.

Paul Tomkins, who is an author of many books about Liverpool FC, met Rafael Benitez last month and he signed one of Paul's books, which Paul then very kindly auctioned for us!

Due to donations, we are pleased to be launching a new scheme shortly which I will post more info about soon.

Harry's family have also been very busy with their PJ Parade fundraiser, but I will wait until the final count has been done and then update their own page about that.

Please keep sending post as November is often a quiet month but the kids are in need of smiles right now as much as any other time.

Pyjamas Parade

2010-01-11T18:55:00.000-08:00

Sorry- I forgot to transfer the update to Blogspot
06/11/2009

The full article can be read on Ellie's page here

Last year Harry’s sister Ellie smashed the Post Pals fundraising record by organising “On wheels for Post Pals”.

This year she is fundraising again and it’s set to be bigger than ever! On the 14th of November, Ellie and a band of friends from school with be doing a sponsored walk in their PJ’s. The event is “Pyjamas Parade” and they have put so much work into it! They plan to spend the whole day in Stafford collecting (they have all the licences) and at dusk are having electric candles and pictures of the Pals we have lost so they are remembered.

If you live in or around Stafford please pop down, tell your friends or even take part in the walk.

The event was kicked off with a trip to London for Ellie, Harry, their friend Megan, and Mum Sue, to meet Fearne Cotton and interview her about why she supports Post Pals. As a result, Ellie’s school is now supporting Post Pals and the Teenage Cancer Trust this year.

You can sponsor Ellie online by clicking here or by sending cheques made payable to “Post Pals” to Ellie's usual forwarding address which is 18 The Oaklands, Church Eaton, Stafford, Staffs, ST20 0BA or by Paypal to info@postpals.co.uk and let us know its sponsorship for Ellie.

Daniel M’s siblings are also walking in memory of their brother, to sponsor them please make cheques made payable to “Post Pals” to their usual forwarding address which is 146 Silkmore Lane, Stafford, Staffordshire, ST17 4RJ or by Paypal to info@postpals.co.uk and let us know its sponsorship for Daniel's family.

Not only are they busy raising money for us but they are also raising awareness, in and around Stafford, and through the media - Ellie has just done a radio interview which is fantastic!

The money raised will be used to send post to the children. Most recently we sent sky lanterns (you write a wish on them then watch them float away) which the children loved but which cost us nearly £600 due to the fact we are supporting 130 children at the moment!

If you would like more details please email Sue via us on info@postpals.co.uk

Thank you to Ellie, Sue, and everyone who is helping.

Jingle Bells at the ready - Christmas 2009 is just around the corner!

2009-10-21T09:59:00.001-07:00

We are doing the Elf and Reindeer schemes again this Christmas as they have been so popular in the past. Last year Lorna and Maria did a fab job of organising them and I'm very happy that they have volunteered to do so again this year - thank you to them both.

Maria is being the "Head Reindeer". A Reindeer is someone who is assigned a young child and helps Father Christmas' reindeer sends 9 cards during the month of December. Reindeer like writing about their life i.e. the sleigh getting full, getting ready for the big night, loving carrots being left out, their favourite reindeer game etc. Reindeer may be great at flying and navigating around the world but their hooves make writing very difficult so require some help from volunteers. In the past one girl believed the reindeer wrote to her as she helped look after her disabled brother. Another little boy was very relieved as Father Christmas definitely knew he was in hospital so wouldn't be missed out.

If you would like to volunteer to help a reindeer please send an email to Maria, her address is maria.carney5@btinternet.com

Lorna is being our "Head Elf". She will assign an Elf (volunteer) to every child and the elf then gathers gifts up to the value of £15 and sends them in December. It is a little like the Christmas shoe box appeals we are all familiar with. Anyone of any age can be an Elf, whether it is little children picking gifts which they think someone their age would like, or adults who now have a good excuse to buy that pink fluffy present! We like to assign 2 Elves to every child as in the past people have committed to being an Elf but then not sent anything (or let us know they couldn't continue) so that means we have 240 volunteers to find! Pictures of children with their elf parcels in the past can be seen here http://postpals.co.uk/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=19

If you would like to volunteer to be an Elf please send an email to Lorna, her address is lornarogers@hotmail.com Please include how many children you would like to be an Elf to and any requirements i.e. a young girl. We have a particular problem finding volunteers for teenage boys so if you would be happy to take one on please let Lorna know.

You can of course send Christmas cards or gifts (of any size or value) to individual children by following the "5 Easy Steps" on the home page.

After writing this I will post an email, please consider forwarding it to friends, family, posting on blogs, message boards etc. Hopefully we can bring lots of sparkle to families who have had a very difficult year.

I will sign off with a little poem which I like,

I heard a little Christmas
in the laughter of a child
I saw a little Christmas
in a snowman's jolly smile,
I felt a little Christmas
when I have a gift away...
Just little things...
An yet they filled my heart
with joy today...

Take care, Vikki

http://tinyurl.com/64pq5b

Email to send.

Hello, this Christmas I'm planning on making some sick children smile simply by sending some post.

Post Pals brightens the lives of seriously ill children (most of whom are fighting cancer or going through transplants) and their siblings by featuring them on the website www.postpals.co.uk with their own page, with their story, interests and a forwarding address. Members of the public from around the world can log on and send cards, letters, emails and small gifts to brighten the child's day and let them know someone cares. Post Pals does this all year around but at Christmas they run some special schemes.

A Reindeer is someone who is assigned a young child and helps Father Christmas' reindeer sends 9 cards during the month of December. Reindeer like writing about their life i.e. the sleigh getting full, getting ready for the big night, loving carrots being left out, their favourite reindeer game etc. Reindeer may be great at flying and navigating around the world but their hooves make writing very difficult so require some help from volunteers. In the past one girl believed the reindeer wrote to her as she helped look after her disabled brother. Another little boy was very relieved as Father Christmas definitely knew he was in hospital so wouldn't be missed out.

If you would like to volunteer to help a reindeer please send an email to Maria, her address is maria.carney5@btinternet.com

The elf scheme is another project, a little like the Shoe Box appeal we all know. You're assigned a child and you have a read their page to get to know them. Then you gather up gifts to the value of £15 and send them off to the child in December. Post Pals needs to find 240 volunteers for this so please spread the world about how to make a difference this Christmas. A picture of little Aled with his elf box can be seen here http://tinyurl.com/64pq5b and a picture of Nikita with the bear she was sent can be seen here http://tinyurl.com/6mq9rj (sadly she passed away on Christmas Eve, a couple of weeks after this picture was taken).

You can also send Christmas cards or little gifts to any child, just log onto www.postpals.co.uk click on "News" to find out how to volunteer and see how a simple gesture can make a big difference.

About Post Pals;

www.postpals.co.uk - Post a Smile on a Sick Child's Face
Winner of Queens Award for Voluntary Services 2008
Supported by Princes Trust and Children in Need
Patron Fearne Cotton
Post Pals on the BBC http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/southern_counties/3673782.stm

Sad news- Katie P

2009-09-24T10:57:00.001-07:00

We are very sad to say that Katie P passed away last night. The update on her Caringbridge page said she passed away in her sleep, in her Mum's arms.

Sympathy cards can be sent to the address on Katie's page and please carry on sending cheerful post to Katie's brothers Johnny and Luke.

If you would like to make a donation in memory of Katie our Paypal address is info@postpals.co.uk (please tick personal then gift so they don't take a %) or cheques made out to "Post Pals" can be sent to Post Pals, PO Box 278, Leatherhead, Surrey, KT23 4WN. We will use it to send some special post out and will send a card to Katie's family to let them know someone donated in memory of her.

18/08/2004-23/09/2009

"Its not how long a star shines, what is remembered is the brightness of the light"

Make a Difference Day

2009-09-20T04:04:00.001-07:00

October 31st is National Make a Difference Day. We would love it if YOU would like to make a difference to seriously ill children through Post Pals (www.postpals.co.uk)

It is run by CSV who can provide you with T-shirts, balloons, posters, information on running an event, Thank you for volunteering certificates etc all for free. Just go their website here and register your activity.

Maybe your child’s school, Brownies, Sunday school or club could have a card making club that day, where they get together and make cards for the Post Pal children.

Maybe you could be sponsored to wear a Halloween outfit that day.

Maybe your parent and toddler group could have a mass drawing/painting day and send the art work off to the Post Pal children to decorate their hospital walls.

Maybe you could have a Halloween themed cake sale

Or run an apple bobbing game where people pay a small entry and win a prize.

Maybe a group of friends can get together and write letters

Or everyone in your office spend a few minutes sending emails to the children

Maybe you could have a nice evening together and ask everyone to bring a small gift with them to send off.

Maybe you could host a party with the proceeds going to Post Pals, there are lots of companies that do them like Virgin Vie, Body Shop, Jo Magdalena, Ann Summers (I’m not linking that one!), Strictly chocolates, Pamper parties
There are hundreds on Google.

The possibilities are endless!

When you have come up with an idea, don’t forget to register here and not only will you get advice and goodies but you will also be entered into the awards and be in with the chance of winning some great prizes! Your local paper might cover it too if you email them to say what you are doing and why :)

If you are unable to do it on 31st of October, any date around there is fine.

Not sure if your event will make a difference? Take a look at this video for how Post Pals helps children who normally don’t have much to smile about

Please share your ideas in our guestbook and tell all your friends, family, Blog readers, Facebook etc

Thank you!

When Ellie met Fearne

2009-09-14T13:48:00.001-07:00

News coming soon but last week Harry and Ellie met Fearne, here is a quick pic for you all.

Ebay for FREE and help SICK KIDS

2009-08-26T13:23:00.001-07:00

Until Aug 31st its FREE to list items on Ebay. Please consider listing a few items to raise funds for the sick kids at Post Pals. We need to raise £350 to send sky lanterns (a child writes their wish on it then it floats up to the sky) to every child.

De clutter and make sick kids smile at the same time!

Www.postpals.co.uk

Donations can be sent via Paypal to info@postpals.co.uk (click personal, then gift so Paypal don't take a fee), via Everyclick at www.everyclick.com/postpals, or by sending cheques made out to “Post Pals” to PO Box 278,Leatherhead, Surrey, KT23 4WN

Please also keep sending cards, letters, gifts and small emails, the kids haven't had a lot of post recently and lots need some extra TLC right now

THANK YOU!

2009-07-25T16:57:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Post Pals brightening up the lives of seriously ill children.

Please take a few minutes to visit our site www.postpals.co.uk and send a card, letter, email or gift to make them smile

Thank you!

When Zachary met the Wiggles...

2009-07-19T16:53:00.000-07:00

Zachary's family contacted us to say they were hoping to take Zachary to see the Wiggles on tour, but the only tickets they could order were at the back which is a long way from the stage, and was there any chance we might be able to help them buy some tickets nearer the front.

Well, always one for a challenge, we set about making it a day to remember. Not only did we get the tickets near the front donated to them, we also managed to arrange a meet and great with the Wiggles themselves!

Zachary's Dad said;

............The Wiggles!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WOW!!!

Thank you sooooooooooooooooooo much!!!

I am sending two photos from the day - I have left them reasonably large for you to use in ANY way you choose.

Zack had a ball! We were with around 8 or 9 other children at the meet and greet and we were the first they met. Although Jeff (Purple Wiggle) is Zack's personal favourite, Murry (Red Wiggle) came round the corner first and Zack just gasped and shouted "Look - it's Murry!".

When Jeff realised he was favourite, he knelt down and started a brief chat with Zack - that's when shyness kicked in! It was quite noticeable that all the kids were quiet and a little shy!

Then it was into the arena for the show and an hour or so of bliss for Zack!

So, once again, many thanks for all you did - it is soooooooo appreciated!

A big thank you to Birmingham NIA, Kevin, and the Wiggles themselves.

A long over due update

2009-07-08T16:43:00.000-07:00

This is a very long over due update about Post Pals and the kids, please take a moment to read.

Firstly I need to appologise about how behind I am, I had a relapse which took a few months to recover from, but then over did it at the party which is going to take me a long time to get over.

Moving on to Post Pal matters...

Most of the kids didn't get much post in June. The summer is upon us (although it is hard to believe with the weather at the moment) and from personal experience I know how hard it is when everyone is out in the sun having fun and you're not well enough to join in. As lots of people send postcards back to family and friends from their holiday, I was hoping they might pick up an extra card for a pal. So if your going away, please write down an address and take it with you, and ask family and friends to do the same. Let's see how many countries we can send cards from and you can let us know by leaving a message in our guestbook.

Lots of kids need TLC at the moment, including;

Alice P - is in Alder Hey for more treatment, her address will be on her page soon (she is on the Teenage Oncology Ward).

Daisy N - is in Great Ormond Street, this is now her 10th month in hospital although they are hoping to be allowed home on the 22nd July.

Daniel A - is spending a lot of time in hospital due to intensive chemo.

Kian B - is going in for his transplant on the 13th July and I will post the details of what he can and can't be sent just beforehand.

Madison P - is very ill in hospital, plus her cancer has spread and there is nothing more they can do.

Megan H - is recovering from spinal surgery.

Party:

We had the party at the weekend which went really well and everyone had a lovely time. Luckily the weather was lovely and the rain stayed away. I will write it up properly soon and share some pictures of the day. Thank you to everyone who helped, attended or voted for us to win the money to hold it. A very special thank you to Jan for letting us have the party at her house and for organising so much of it. More soon!

That's all for the moment, please keep sending smiles to the kids!

Take care, Vikki

Card Blogs

2009-05-10T11:43:00.000-07:00

Hello, thank you to the owners of card making blogs who are sending cards to the children at the moment. We normally struggle to find enough volunteers to send a card as we help around 120 children at any one time, but every single card sent is a smile created, a little hope given and lets them know someone cares.

Please let others know about us (if you would like a banner there are some here

Thank you!

Sad new- Jack B

2009-05-04T07:26:00.000-07:00

I'm very sad to say that Jack B has passed away. There is a message and update on his page http://postpals.co.uk/pals/jack+b

Sympathy ards can be sent to the UK address on his page, and please keep sending post to Connor and Rhian.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to brighten Jacks day since he joined Post Pals in 2006,

Vikki

Mixed news

2009-05-02T16:43:00.000-07:00

It has been a very mixed couple of weeks for Post Pals, starting with the sad news that Madison's cancer is back. She finds out this week if it has spread or not. If it hasn't she will restart chemo but it will only give her a 1% chance of making it. Our TLC list is very long at the moment with Madison, Alice who is in hospital for quite a while (hospital address is on her page), Jon Paul who is in having IV's, Kirsty who is having a tough time with sickness and has been told she may have to have her stomach removed, Daniel A who is undergoing intensive chemotherapy, Tom and his family are having a difficult time and Daisy is still in hospital where she has been for the past 8 months.

There have been some positives though, starting with the great news that Ashley H is officially in remission! Daisy is still in hospital but for the first time in a very long time she was allowed out for a few hours to attend her school - what a milestone for her. Jon Paul was also allowed out of hospital for a few hours to do a tombola with his Mum and Rebecca L's Mum to raise funds for Post Pals. Rebecca's Mum has also just run a half marathon to raise funds for us in memory of her daughter.

Today I woke up to some more good news. Following our online campaign, lots of you voted and got friends and family involved for the "Heart of the Community" competition. We were up against 77 projects for 12 lots of funding and...

WE GOT IT!!

Yes, we have won £500 because of YOU! Thank you to everyone who voted, told friends and family to, joined our Facebook, emailed it or Twittered it - we are truly grateful as it will make a lot of difference!

Along side the post volunteers send, Post Pals also send out lots and the costs soon mount up. Often to send a very small gift to every child it can cost around £250 so every penny raised or donated is used to create smiles.

Thank you again to everyone!

I will sign off with some recent pictures of Pals with their post. You can see more here

Milly and Alice

Dylan and Seren

William

Leaflets

2009-04-25T08:10:00.001-07:00

Hello, we have lots of leaflets in storage, I'm not sure how many are in each box but there is quite a lot. We are looking for people to take a box and distribute them, if you would like a box please could you send me your full name and address and they will be sent out to you this week. My email is viks@postpals.co.uk

Please check back on Wednesday as I will posting details on how to vote for Post Pals to win £500.

I will sign off with a picture of Alan and his lovely quilt (we are slowly working through our Pals so all children will receive a quilt to snuggle up under).

"Contact us"

2009-04-21T05:43:00.001-07:00

Hello, tonight it suddenly occurred to me I don't remember getting any "contact us" forms (email sent via our website) for a while. I checked and some how the address had accidently been blocked on my computer so they had been deleted.

If you have emailed, I'm really sorry, please do send it again and I will get it this time!

Sponsor a project update

2009-04-07T09:43:00.001-07:00

Hello, a couple of months ago I posted an appeal asking if anyone would help sponsor a project, I was blown away by your response- thank you to everyone who helped. I will be posting another appeal soon but here is an update. I have sent Thank You's to everyone, but words can not say how much comfort receiving something in the post can bring when life is very difficult.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you to the Lewis Jeynes Fund, and a lady who would like to stay anonymous for covering the majority of the "Magic growing eggs", we were able to cover the rest of the costs thanks to previous donations/fundraising. They have now all been ordered and some have started to arrive- I hear Alan is most eager to start growing his!

Pal Aisha and her sister Rosa both donated a months pocket money which we were very touched by, and Anna Mae nominated us to Elizabeth House at her school and they raised £90 for us. The sweet/toy cone is going to be sent out next month.

Pals Milly and Alices Mum kindly donated the full amount to purchase card sets, we ended up ordering a mix of Flower Fairy and Beatrix Potter ones, so the Pals who like to reply to post or send cards to others could do so.

Sarah Gilligan sponsored the whole word search mug project (with money left over for the eggs). Pal Jon Paul said,

Thanks for my wordsearch mug am having great joy doing the puzzles some of them hard some easy but enjoying them they are a good gift and i truly appreciate all that you do for me and allt he other children who are suffering from illness.

Cuddles the Bear was sponsored by the lady who would like to stay anonymous, they were a big hit and here are pictures of Dylan and Seren with theirs;

Thank you to everyone who has helped sponsor a project or spread the word around for us :)

up and running

2009-04-04T08:21:00.001-07:00

I forgot to update to say the site came back up after 24 hours.

Its coming up to Easter now which would be a great time to send an Easter card, if your not sure what to write, maybe include some facts about Easter (did you know the world biggest Easter egg was 8.32 metres high?) or a funny joke.

www.postpals.co.uk

Website down

2009-03-26T09:26:00.001-07:00

The Post Pals website has been down since last night, sorry about this. I've contacted our webmaster and hope to be up and running soon. If you need to contact me then postpals@hotmail.com is the only addy I can access. Thanks

Miracle Madi

2009-03-18T18:29:00.000-07:00

Spot your post! Below is a lovely and moving video of our Pal Madision, see if you can spot any of the cards you may of sent her! You may need to try a few times as your bound to be misty eyed watching it!

Congratulations to Madi :)

Madi- I hope you've been singing this special song about finising Chemo, that can you can hear here

Edit, for some reason Blogspot won't let me post the video here, but you can see it by clicking here

Fund raisers

2009-03-17T21:27:00.000-07:00

We have a few fund raisers going on at the moment;

Rachel who is Mum to Pal Rebecca L is running a half marathon for us, Rebecca's sister is doing a sponsored silence, Libby is giving up pink for lent (You can sponsor her here, Charlie's Mum is organising a Karaoke night, Jon Paul is carrying on his fundraising and Aisha's Mum is holding a craft stall.

I don't think we have ever had so many fundraising things going on before, a BIG thank you to everyone involved, all the funds are used to make the kids smile :)

Thank you also to those who have sponsored a previous project featured on the news page, I was blown away by peoples generosity. This week the orders were placed for the word search mugs, cuddles the bear, Beatrix Potter Cards so soon there will be lots of smiles!

Sponsor a project- update

2009-03-01T10:33:00.000-08:00

Hello, an update to our plea for help sponsoring some projects;

Post Pals aims to send out regular post, but we need your help to make it possible. Could you, someone you know, a local business, club, charity or church help sponsor a project or part of the project? We are careful to hunt around to find things that the children will love but which are also as cheep as possible, we would like to send the following but need your help,

Fiber Optic Fingers- fiber optic lights which slip onto your fingers and flash, allowing you to dance, wave your arms around and make pretty patterns, they are enjoyed by both children and adults so will be suitable for all of our Pals and siblings. To send these to all the children will cost £263.720 I know it sounds a lot but we are helping 112 children and that includes postage.

Growing eggs- special coloured "eggs" which you crack and then water, in time a special plant grows in 7-10 days which has a message attached- they are quite remarkable! Its not suitable for every child so it will cost £215
Thank you to the Lewis Jaynes Fund for donating £100 towards this project

"Cuddles" the bear- a 27cm cuddly teddy bear, sure to become a child's best friend. Again its not for everyone so will cost £179

Sweet cone- A cone bag stuffed full of sweets and a couple of toys too! It will cost £132 Thank you to Elizabeth House at Stover School for raising £90 for us, and to Pal Anna Mae for nominating us, Thank you also to Pal Aisha and her sister Rosa who both donated a months pocket money for £40

Beatrix Potter Cards- some of the Pals like to send cards to other children as they know how much it makes them smile, some even spend their pocket money on each other which we think is really sweet, others like to send Thank you's. To enable them to continue we would like to send them a lovely box with 30 Beatrix Potter cards in. This would cost £74.75 Thank you to Pals Milly and Alices Mum for sponsoring this project

Crazy Balloon Modelling kit- the name gives it away but a kit complete with balloons, pump and instructions. This would cost £199

Wordsearch mug- its often hard finding presents for the older boys but we thought they might like a wordsearch mug with special pen. This would be £39.80

Butterfly Wind chime- a giant wind chime which is over 1 meter tall which goes in your garden, perfect for girls or children who enjoy sensory items. £199.50

Dog and Cat Magnets- a set of magnets in the shape of dogs or cats depending on which the child prefers. £199

Special keyring- you fill the keyring with water and sit back and watch. The frog one magically turns into a prince, a duckling turns into a swan and for older children you can grow some bamboo inside one! £294.56

As you can see costs soon add up which is why we are hoping that you might be able to help. If your a business/club/charity we can put links up to your website and thank you. If you would like to fundraise there are some idea's here

Although the above are a lot, donations of any size are appreciated, with just 50p we can send a postcard and create a smile :)

There are several ways you can donate,

Cheques made payable to "Post Pals" can be sent to: Post Pals, PO Box 278, Leatherhead, Surrey, KT23 4WN

Our paypal address is postpals@hotmail.com (It was set up before our main domain was up and running hense it being hotmail)

Direct into our bank account - please contact us on info@postpals.co.uk for information.

Or Everyclick pass on 100% of the donation unlike paypal who take a small fee, http://www.everyclick.com/postpals

We hope to have Justgiving later in the year.

Thank you!

Could you help sponsor a project?

2009-02-11T08:56:00.000-08:00

Post Pals aims to send out regular post, but we need your help to make it possible. Could you, someone you know, a local business, club, charity or church help sponsor a project or part of the project? We are careful to hunt around to find things that the children will love but which are also as cheep as possible, we would like to send the following but need your help,

Fiber Optic Fingers- fiber optic lights which slip onto your fingers and flash, allowing you to dance, wave your arms around and make pretty patterns, they are enjoyed by both children and adults so will be suitable for all of our Pals and siblings. To send these to all the children will cost £263.720 I know it sounds a lot but we are helping 112 children and that includes postage.

Growing eggs- special coloured "eggs" which you crack and then water, in time a special plant grows in 7-10 days which has a message attached- they are quite remarkable! Its not suitable for every child so it will cost £215

"Cuddles" the bear- a 27cm cuddly teddy bear, sure to become a child's best friend. Again its not for everyone so will cost £179

Sweet cone- A cone bag stuffed full of sweets and a couple of toys too! It will cost £132

Beatrix Potter Cards- some of the Pals like to send cards to other children as they know how much it makes them smile, some even spend their pocket money on each other which we think is really sweet, others like to send Thank you's. To enable them to continue we would like to send them a lovely box with 30 Beatrix Potter cards in. This would cost £74.75

Crazy Balloon Modelling kit- the name gives it away but a kit complete with balloons, pump and instructions. This would cost £199

Wordsearch mug- its often hard finding presents for the older boys but we thought they might like a wordsearch mug with special pen. This would be £39.80

Butterfly Wind chime- a giant wind chime which is over 1 meter tall which goes in your garden, perfect for girls or children who enjoy sensory items. £199.50

Dog and Cat Magnets- a set of magnets in the shape of dogs or cats depending on which the child prefers. £199

Special keyring- you fill the keyring with water and sit back and watch. The frog one magically turns into a prince, a duckling turns into a swan and for older children you can grow some bamboo inside one! £294.56

As you can see costs soon add up which is why we are hoping that you might be able to help. If your a business/club/charity we can put links up to your website and thank you. If you would like to fundraise there are some idea's here

Although the above are a lot, donations of any size are appreciated, with just 50p we can send a postcard and create a smile :)

There are several ways you can donate,

Cheques made payable to "Post Pals" can be sent to,

Our paypal address is postpals@hotmail.com (It was set up before our main domain was up and running hense it being hotmail)

Direct into our bank account- please contact us on info@postpals.co.uk for information

Or Everyclick pass on 100% of the donation unlike paypal who take a small fee, http://www.everyclick.com/postpals

We hope to have Justgiving later in the year,

Thank you!

Anthony M

2009-02-10T03:40:00.000-08:00

I'm very sad to say that Anthony M has passed away, his Mum sent this email

"it is with a very heavy heart to let you all know that Anthony lost his battle with renal cell carcinoma at 11am,Sunday 8th February 2009 age 13 years. my wee angel,my star xxxxxxxxxx"

Sympathy cards can be sent to his usual address as well as cheerful post for his brothers.

Anthony was on Post Pals for just under a year and many people took the time to make him smile- thank you to you all. Anthony loved Lush, especially their bathbombs so Post Pals had been hunting around to find a charity who could fund the sending one 3 of every single bathbomb that Lush do (his brothers also love them and we try to include siblings where ever possible), last week we found a charity who were going to send them but sadly we ran out of time.

Our thoughts go out to all of Anthonys friends and family.

Anthony and his Post Pal quilt

12/09/1995-08/02/2009

Spread some love this valentines!

2009-02-03T05:32:00.000-08:00

To find a child to send a card to, click here

With Valentines just around the corner Post Pals are hoping to spread some love! Everyone likes to get Valentines cards and our Pals and siblings are no exception. So why not grab a card, or fold some paper and draw some hearts, pop a big ? in it, and send it off. Don't forget to record it on our mail stats page.

We always have less post being sent at this time of year, and normally there isn't much we can do as although Post Pals sends out as much as possible we are restricted by lack of funds. We are still restricted by lack of funds how ever after several of you donated or fundraised last year we have been able to send lots of goodies out recently. We hunt around to find the best offers, and for companies who offer free postage. This year all the parents have been sent chocolates (parents need smiles too!), girls (including siblings) have been sent big chocolate scented candles which look like the real thing, the boys (including siblings) have had football bathbombs, lots of Pals have had books which match their favourite films/characters/interests, 2 children have had big balloons, several have received quilts, and thanks to Jo Magdalena the girls have had jewelry too. Needless to say lots of smiles have been created.

Despite this we really do need more people to log on and send a message, be it an email or a card, and valentines day is a great way to spread some love without having to write a long message

We hope our UK volunteers are keeping warm in all this snow!

Keep Smiling :)

Nominate Post Pals for funds

2009-01-09T11:15:00.001-08:00

Hello, Waitrose have a scheme in place where every month they share £1000 between 3 good causes nominated by members of the public.

I've nominated us to my local branch (Cobham) but was hoping that some of our volunteers might nominate us to theirs. All you need to do is go into the store and ask at the "welcome desk" for a community funding form. The form has 3 small sections, for name of project, why your nominating it and contact details. You then drop it back in to the welcome desk and cross your fingers!

Its meant for local projects but I know national charities have also benefitted. I would suggest mentioning you volunteer for it (or your child benefits from it/a local Pal benefits from it), and maybe paperclipping a poster or leaflet to it (which I can either email or post to you).

Every month they choose 3 projects and then shoppers are given a token to put in the slot of their chosen project. £1000 is then shared out depending on how many tokens have been given etc.

It could be a really simple way for us to boost our income, the more money we have the more post we can send- it really does make a difference. Just this week thanks to donations we have been able to send fun kids books out (seleceted from a list by the parents so we know the child will like it), next week they will be receiving fiberoptic finger lights. With 120 children though costs soon add up.

The form took me about 2 minutes to fill in, its that short!

Thank you!

www.postpals.co.uk

Colour and TLC

2009-01-06T09:32:00.001-08:00

Hello, I was trying to think of a way to boost the amount of post being sent this month, especially as we have so many pals needing TLC (I will post the list below)

I found this website which lets you print cards and then colour them in which I thought would be a nice way to get kids involved in sending post :) You could also print them and send them to the Pal to colour in themselves. Theres lots of other cards which you can print on the site too. The link is http://www.crayola.com/cardcreator/

The TLC list

Madison- http://postpals.co.uk/pals/Madison+P keeps bouncing in and out of hospital

Jon Paul-http://postpals.co.uk/pals/Jon+Paul+O (who is going into hospital)
Luke- who is in hospital http://postpals.co.uk/pals/Luke+H

Anthony-scans showed in Dec that his tumours have all grown by 10% and new ones showing up. There aren't any treatment options left for him http://postpals.co.uk/pals/Anthony+M

Jack Peter B could do with some cheering up http://postpals.co.uk/pals/Jack+Peter+B

Jack B needs lots of TLC http://postpals.co.uk/pals/Jack+B

Tom and his family could do with some smiles being sent their way http://postpals.co.uk/pals/Tom+S

TJ- is recovering from surgery on his legs and getting frustrated http://www.postpals.co.uk/pals/Tarrick-James+M

Alice- is starting a radiation http://www.postpals.co.uk/pals/Alice+P

Ashley- is going into hospital to have his tumour removed http://www.postpals.co.uk/pals/Ashley+H

Merry Christmas

2008-12-19T06:25:00.000-08:00

It has been quite a year! Post Pals has grown even more and we are currently making 120 children smile on a daily basis with post.

We have had many up's this year with some of the Pals going from strength to strength and beating the odds which is always wonderful to see. We have of course had sadness too, with the passing of Daniel M, Declan K, Jack Bradley B, Rebecca L and Samantha H. We are thinking of their families as well as the families who have lost a Pal in the previous years.

The summer brought a Queens Award for Voluntary Services (group equivalent of an MBE), and the winter brought "Young Philanthropist of the Year" from the Beacon Awards.

This has been our best year for donations and we are now in the process of applying for a reg charity number. Special thanks have to go to Abbies Fund (set up in memory of Pal Abbie S) who donated £1000, Harry G's family who raised £800, Jon Paul, his Mum and Rebecca L's mum, who have fundraised and Samatha H's family who have asked people to donate to us in memory of their daughter, as well as Paul Tomkins who has made donations to us from proceeds of his book (and mentioned us in the dedication of his new one!). Of course we are grateful to EVERYONE who has donated or fundraised, whether you have sent in £1 or £1000 we have used it to create smiles - for just 50p we can send a postcard and brighten a child's day.

I would love to put thank you's up to every individual who has sent post, donated money, items or time, or fundraised for us, but it's simply not possible - and I'm too scared that I will miss people out. However, please know that we appreciate everything that is done, and regardless of whether you got a letter in return for cards sent - you did create a smile (or more!).

We have a wonderful set of volunteers who work incredibly hard to enable us to do what we do best! Thank you to them all, in particular Kate, who keeps the kids pages updated (no mean feat!) and gathers feedback from the parents every month, and Jan who has taken over as treasurer when Vix retired from the job.

I do have to put a special note in here for St Matthew's Sunday School. One week their teachers Julia (who has sadly since passed away) and Judith decided to get them writing letters, but the children were so eager they now do them every single week. They really are an amazing bunch of kids!

Also a special note to two wonderful Companies who have supported us from our early days, Moonpig who let us send incredible cards (for some reason shop's don't tend to sell "No More Chemo", "Seizure Free", or "Congratulations on your new tummy" cards which we can create with Moonpig, and also to Bizzy Balloons who send fantastic balloons to Pals. Recently I've had emails from 2 different families talking about how the balloons made a wonderful difference in their child's last few weeks, one is even putting it in her sons special memory box - thank you Moonpig and Bizzy Balloons.

A special mention as well to my long suffering parents! When i told them my idea five and a half years ago, I don't think they had a clue as to how much it would over take their lives - and house! Every inch of the house is full of Post Pals things, they haven't been able to get the cars in the garage for years, they have to make countless trips to the post office, spend hours weighing and stamping post, taking calls when I'm unable, taking me to events etc. Someone who came to one of our "wrapping days" (when we have volunteers over for a whole day to wrap presents) commented about how people who visit the website don't realise how much goes on behind the scenes and how much of our life has been taken over by it - very true!

A real highlight of the year was in the summer when we celebrated our 5th birthday by hosting a garden party which lots of people from around the UK came to, some from as far away as Cornwall and the Isle of Wight! It was a fantastic and moving day, and something which we hope to make an annual event.

Another highlight of the year was having 100 tickets donated to us by Merlin so all the Pals families could visit Thorpe Park (thank you Merlin), lots are also busy visiting Father Christmas at Harrods at the moment. One of the things we try to do is put families in touch with other charities which are out there, an example being someone emailed us from Over the Wall, and we were able to send the details onto the relevant families - those who went had a fantastic time and plan on returning as soon as possible! If you come across something which you think might be of help to our families please get in touch.

I guess that sums it all up and leaves me to wish you all a

VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Love from us all at Post Pals.

A few pictures of the past year;

Lewis with his post - including a big fluffy friend!

Our 5th birthday cake

Samantha and her birthday 'Airdo

Milly and Alice

>
Megan H with some pressies

William and his Post Pal ChemoDuck

Jemima with her Postie wall

Declan K

2008-12-16T06:26:00.000-08:00

We are very sad to say that Declan K passed away on the 15th of December 2008. He suffered a lot in his short life time and will always be his families "little hero".

Sympathy cards can be sent to Caz, Brendon and Kyle, at his usual address. Please also carry on sending cheerful post to Kyle.

07/05/2002-15/12/2008

Post Pal Video

2008-11-22T06:27:00.000-08:00

The video about Post Pals can be seen here. Thank you to Megan H and her brother Joe and Mum for starring in it. Thanks also to James who walked the whole length of our road 3 times with 2 postal sacks! A special thanks to Dylan who made the video and did such a great job of it! :)

Beacon Award

2008-11-19T06:27:00.000-08:00

I would like to thank all the Post Pal parents or Pals who nominated me for a Beacon Award. Yesterday I was awarded "Young Philanthropist 2008" and invited to London for a truly wonderful day. I met so many inspiring people from all walks of life.

The award means a lot to me, especially as I was nominated by Pals families, and my thanks goes out to them and to everyone involved in the Beacon Awards.

Jingle Bells at the ready...

2008-11-05T17:02:00.001-08:00

Jingle Bells at the ready, it's time for our Christmas schemes to be launched.

We are doing the Elf and Reindeer schemes again as they have been so popular in the past. The only difference is this year they are being run by 2 volunteers because last year I was unable to keep up with Elves, Reindeer and general Post Pal work etc.

Maria is being the "Head Reindeer". A Reindeer is someone who is assigned a young child and sends 9 cards during the month of December, one from each reindeer, talking from the reindeers perspective i.e. talking about the sleigh getting full, getting ready for the big night, loving carrots being left out etc. It is not only fun for the child receiving the cards, but also for the volunteers getting to do imaginative writing. In the past one girl believed the reindeer wrote to her as she helped look after her disabled brother. Another little boy was very relieved as Father Christmas definitely knew he was in hospital so wouldn't be missed out.

If you would like to volunteer to be a reindeer please send an email to Maria, her address is maria.carney@tiscali.co.uk

Lorna is being our "Head Elf". She will assign an Elf (volunteer) to every child and the elf then gathers gifts up to the value of £15 and sends them in December. It is a little like the Christmas shoe box appeals we are all familiar with. Anyone of any age can be an elf, whether it's little children picking gifts which they think someone their age would like, or adults who now have a good excuse to buy that pink fluffy present! We like to assign 2 Elves to every child as in the past people have committed to being an Elf but then not sent anything (or let us know they couldn't continue) so that means we have 240 volunteers to find! Pictures of children with their elf parcels in the past can be seen here http://postpals.co.uk/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=19

If you would like to volunteer to be an Elf please send an email to Lorna, her address is lornarogers@hotmail.com Please include how many children you would like to be an Elf too, and any requirements i.e. a young girl. We have a particular problem finding volunteers for teenage boys so if you would be happy to take one on please let Lorna know.

You can of course send Christmas cards or gifts (of any size or value) to individual children by following the "5 Easy Steps" on the home page.

After writing this I will post an email, please consider forwarding it to friends, family, posting on blogs, message boards etc. Hopefully we can bring lots of sparkle to families who have had a very difficult year.

I will sign off with a little poem which I like,

I heard a little Christmas
in the laughter of a child
I saw a little Christmas
in a snowman's jolly smile,
I felt a little Christmas
when I have a gift away...
Just little things...
An yet they filled my heart
with joy today...

Take care, Vikki

Email to send.

Hello, this Christmas I'm planning on making some sick children smile simply by sending some post.

Post Pals brightens the lives of seriously ill children (most of whom are fighting cancer or going through transplants) and their siblings by featuring them on the website www.postpals.co.uk with their own page, with their story, interests and a forwarding address. Members of the public from around the world can log on and send cards, letters, emails and small gifts to brighten the child's day and let them know someone cares. Post Pals does this all year around but at Christmas they run some special schemes.

Reindeers (volunteers) are assigned to a young child and during December they send a card from each of Santa's reindeer, talking about anything from loving it when carrots are left out or how full the sleigh is getting. Its great fun to use your imagination and the children really enjoy it, one boy was so relieved as it meant santa definitely knew he was in hospital at Christmas and another girl thought the reindeer wrote to her as she was good in helping her mum look after her disabled brother.

The elf scheme is another project, a little like the Shoe Box appeal we all know. You're assigned a child and you have a read their page to get to know them. Then you gather up gifts to the value of £15 and send them off to the child in December. Post Pals needs to find 240 volunteers for this so please spread the world about how to make a difference this Christmas. A picture of little Aled with his elf box can be seen here http://tinyurl.com/64pq5b and a picture of Nikita with the bear she was sent can be seen here http://tinyurl.com/6mq9rj (sadly she passed away on Christmas Eve, a couple of weeks after this picture was taken).

You can also send christmas cards or little gifts to any child, just log onto www.postpals.co.uk click on "News" to find out how to volunteer and see how a simple gesture can make a big difference.

About Post Pals;

www.postpals.co.uk - Post a Smile on a Sick Child's Face
Winner of Queens Award for Voluntary Services 2008
Supported by Princes Trust and Children in Need
Patron Fearne Cotton
Post Pals on the BBC http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/southern_counties/3673782.stm

A busy day!

2008-10-22T06:29:00.000-07:00

Saturday was a very busy day for Post Pals as volunteers congregated in Viks' house to spend the day choosing, wrapping, bubble wrapping, brown papering, weighing and stamping up parcels for 116 children! We didn't quite make it through all the children but we got through 13 pages out of 16 A4 pages of details! There will be lots of smiles in the next week or so as the parcels arrive with the Pals and their siblings. Luckily Ellie's fundraiser has been going well as the weekend cost over £200 (that's not including the gifts as we already had them) - I think Post Pals keeps Royal Mail afloat!

A big thank you to Jan, Corrine, Lise, Teresa, Dawn and Steve (my parents)and Tania, Nina, Jack and 3 year old Ella (who helped choose coloured balls for the children) from Georgies Fund for all their help. I think everyone went home tired and aching from doing so much wrapping but the smiles will be worth it!

Thank you also to James (who is volunteering for Post Pals as part of his Duke of Edingbourgh Award) and Annie for their help in parceling up Halloween costumes earlier in the week.

I will be posting the details for the Christmas scheme's in a couple of days time so please check back.

Jingle Bells at the ready...

2008-10-22T06:28:00.000-07:00

2008-10-20T11:05:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Post Pals, the site enabling you to "Post a Smile on a Sick Child's face" by sending cheery emails, letters, cards and small gifts to children who are battling all sorts of illnesses from Cancer to Cystic Fibrosis to rare genetic conditions. Just follow the 5 easy steps.

1.Go to www.postpals.co.uk and select "Find Pals"
2.Read their page (each child has one page)
3.Write a card, letter, Email, sign their guestbook or even send a gift to the child and post it to the address on their page (NB this is not the child's home address, but a forwarding one). Please don't expect a reply.
4.Report post sent on our stats page
5.Sit back and know that a child is smiling because of YOU.

The picture at the top of this journal is of Samantha who passed away at the age of 5, she loved to receive post and hopefully her smile will inspire many to carry on helping other children.

Ellie Rolling for Post Pals

2008-10-10T06:29:00.000-07:00

Harry G's 12 year old sister Ellie and their Mum have been working very hard to organise a sponsored event for Post Pals. Ellie and her school friends will be "rolling" 2.5 miles from their home in Staffordshire to the Royal Oak pub complete with a police escort!

Ellie said

"At the Post Pals BBQ I realised what a nice charity Post Pals is and that I would like to help them by raising money to help other kids just like Harry G has been helped.

At my school I put forward Post Pals to be our charity for this year and I am organising a sponsored rollerblade to take place on 19th October 2008 where some of my class mates will join in too. If you would like to donate or sponsor me, please send a cheque to Harry G, c/o 18 The Oaklands, Church Eaton, Stafford, ST20 0BA made payable to Post Pals and we will forward all monies received together. "

They have been working so hard so please sponsor Ellie and her friends and enable us to help more families like theirs who have a child with a serious illness or disability.

Donations can also be sent via paypal to info@postpals.co.uk please include a message to say it is sponsorship money.

Good luck to all everyone for the 19th, we can't wait to hear about it and see some photographs.

Below is a picture of Harry and Ellie at the Post Pal BBQ in July infront of the "wall of Pals" who we have helped over the years.

Daniel M

2008-09-16T06:36:00.000-07:00

Last week we heard the very sad news that Daniel M had passed away in his mothers arms on the 14th of June. He had battled with Neuroblastoma since his 2nd birthday.

Cards can be sent to his siblings and his Mum through the address on his page here

19/07/2002-19/06/2008

TLC

2008-09-09T06:30:00.000-07:00

TLC

The following children are in need of some TLC

Seren is having her first course of IV's and having a tough time of it with lines failing, coughing, being backwards and forwards to the hospital etc. Her percentile is down to 7% (for children with CF the aim is to keep above 50%)

Aled is being admitted on the 15th sept for a Supa pubic catheter to be fitted befote they do bladder tests on the 16th, the outcome of these tests decide wether he will have a bladder reconstruction or not.

Anthony has had a change of medication as the previous one was no longer working with new possible legions showing up. This drug is shown to extend life for around 4 months.

Laura H isn't doing very well, she would never ask for some TLC but could really do with some!

We also have a new Pal called Maddison, who I will upload to the site in the next day or two, she is spending a lot of time in hospital so will be in need of TLC

Post Pal Party

2008-07-23T06:33:00.000-07:00

We had the first ever Post Pal party on Saturday to celebrate Post Pals turning 5 this summer. It was a great day enjoyed by some of the families we have supported over the years and the volunteers who have stuck with us, making a difference day in day out.

The party was in Surrey and people travelled from all over. It got off to a great start with icecream and Abbie's Fund had kindly arranged a fantastic entertainer who was a ventriloquist with a variety of little friends who had the children laughing, singing and joining in.

The children (and quite a few adults!) sat memorised throughout the whole show, and once it had finished we moved out into the garden for a BBQ. Thankfully the weather was lovely, and three companies had been very generous with donations. After a while Dawn brought out the most amazing cake which had been made and donated by Debbies Sweet Art although it seemed a shame to cut into it!

We tucked into the cake, a chocolate fountain and a huge selection of yummy deserts made by Harry G's Mum Sue, including 2 Danish deserts which non of us had tried before.

Volunteer Karen (who had travelled from the Isle of White) and her friend Marie had arranged a raffle with lots of prizes, and Cliff had arranged a teddy bear one. As there were so many prizes the children got extremely excited as their numbers kept being called out, and they went home with an armful of prizes.

Amelia's Grandmother Angie had brought along some helium balloons and we released one for every pal who has passed away, as we let them go we read their names out. We also had a vase of 10 flowers with each child's name on.

The photo is of Angie just poking out from behind the balloons, Kat, Viks and Jamie (Abbie's brother) at the front.

All the children went home with goodie bags donated by Marie.

It was a lovely day, the weather despite the forecast was great, and we all had a good time meeting people we have known for years.

I have some special thank you's to say.

Buccleuch Foods for the luxurious burgers
Pierces bakery in Bookham for the large buffet which everyone enjoyed
Ken Davey in Bookham for his award winning sausages
Maria for the goodie bags,
Abbie's Fund for the entertainment, prizes, items etc
Debbie's Sweet Art for the perfect cake which went down a treat!
Harry G's Mum Sue for all the deserts
Emma and Jan for working so hard to keep things running smoothly on the day
Bill for doing the BBQ for hours
Dawn and Steve for providing some of the food, drinks, a lot of time, and for letting us use our house for the party (and I should add thank you to them for letting Post Pals take over the house, the garage, the loft and just about every spare inch of the place!)

And most of all, thank you to everyone who came along.

We hope you had a great day.

PS)If you have any photographs please could we be emailed a copy for our gallery.

Jack Bradley B

2008-07-23T06:32:00.000-07:00

We are very sad to say that Jack Bradley B passed away on the 23rd of July 2008, with his Mum, Dad and brother by his side.

Jack holds the record for most cards received in the first week of being on Post Pals - around 100.

04/03/1999-23/07/2008

Rebecca L

2008-06-23T06:37:00.000-07:00

We are very sad to say that Rebecca L passed away on the 20th of June after developing a chest infection. She was a true star who loved nothing more than singing, dancing, and acting. Only a few weeks ago she was talking about getting an agent to make her dream come true.

Post can be sent to her Mum Rachel and sister Josie at the address on her page.

Beki 10/09/1995- 20/06/2008

Every click counts

2008-06-15T06:38:00.000-07:00

Post Pals has signed up with 'Everyclick'. If you sign up (which is free) and select Post Pals, then every single time you do a web search they will donate around 1p to us. It doesn't sound much but if lots of people sign up it will quickly add up. For around every 30 web searches we will be able to send 1 postcard :) To sign up click the link below.

We have won an award!

2008-06-02T06:38:00.000-07:00

We have some brilliant news - Post Pals has won "The Queen's Award for Voluntary Service"! One of only 76 given out this year to charities and organisations throughout the UK!

We have some other good news too. Pal Alice P is finishing Chemo this month as well as Jacob H who is finishing 3 and half very long years of chemo. A big congratulations to them, it would be great if we could get lots of congratulation cards sent to them :)

Last year Post Pals took part in "The Great British Duck Race" where 170, 000 sponsored rubber ducks were floated down the Thames. We raised over £100 but are hoping to double that this year. If you would like to sponsor a duck please click here, you could be in with a chance of winning £10,000 or another great prize.

Tomorrow (3rd June) we will be in The Sun - the largest selling newspaper in the UK. We are really hoping lots of people will log onto our site and send a card, email, little gift or letter and brighten a child's day.

I will sign off with a picture of Alex William with his Post Pal cards on his birthday.

Spreading Ripples

2008-05-21T06:40:00.000-07:00

Hello, I'm starting this news update with some changes to Pals details.

Alex C and Alex William H now have new forwarding addresses and they have been updated on their pages.

We also have some Pals moving on - Ethan C, Jessica M and Jordan T. Jordan's Mum says;

"Jordan is turning 16 in July and thinks that it is time for him to "move on" from Post Pals to give younger pals more "space". He is VERY VERY grateful for his time as a pal though... thank you so much."

We have a scheme where every child is assigned a writer who sends at least one card/letter every two weeks. The children love hearing from someone regularly but we are still several people short, so if you're interested in taking part or are currently already volunteering for this but can take on an extra child, please email Emma on snowberry2@tiscali.co.uk

We know that the post really makes the featured children smile but it also makes the volunteers smile too, much like the ripple poem below. We would love to hear how Post Pals has touched you, if you would like to share please leave a message in our guestbook!

I'll sign off with the poem, keep dropping those pebbles and spreading ripples.

Drop a pebble in the water:
just a splash, and it is gone;
But there's half-a-hundred ripples
Circling on and on and on,
Spreading, spreading from the center,
flowing on out to the sea.
And there is no way of telling
where the end is going to be.

Drop a pebble in the water:
in a minute you forget,
But there's little waves a-flowing,
and there's ripples circling yet,
And those little waves a-flowing
to a great big wave have grown;
You've disturbed a mighty river
just by dropping in a stone.

Drop an unkind word, or careless:
in a minute it is gone;
But there's half-a-hundred ripples
circling on and on and on.
They keep spreading, spreading, spreading
from the center as they go,
And there is no way to stop them,
once you've started them to flow.

Drop an unkind word, or careless:
in a minute you forget;
But there's little waves a-flowing,
and there's ripples circling yet,
And perhaps in some sad heart
a mighty wave of tears you've stirred,
And disturbed a life was happy
ere you dropped that unkind word.

Drop a word of cheer and kindness:
just a flash and it is gone;
But there's half-a-hundred ripples
circling on and on and on,
Bearing hope and joy and comfort
on each splashing, dashing wave
Till you wouldn't believe the volume
of the one kind word you gave.

Drop a word of cheer and kindness:
in a minute you forget;
But there's gladness still a-swelling,
and there's joy circling yet,
And you've rolled a wave of comfort
whose sweet music can be heard
Over miles and miles of water
just by dropping one kind word.

~By James W. Foley~

Get Jack Bradley B to Legoland

2008-05-02T06:40:00.000-07:00

Jack Bradley B has recently come out of hospital after a 5 week stay. He will shortly be going back in for a bone marrow transplant. In between tests, there is a small window where we would like to be able to get him to Legoland, so please take a look at our ebay item and consider bidding. Please also send it to friends, family, post on message boards/blogs etc!

Item is here

The flock have flown in!

2008-04-28T06:41:00.000-07:00

A large flock of Chemoducks have just flown in thanks to the generosity of Nathan V's family and friends.

Nathan liked his Chemoduck that Post Pals sent him so much that when he passed away his family set about raising some funds to purchase some ducks for Alderhey. They raised so much they were able to provide some to Alderhey, Pendulbury and local hospitals, as well as donating 29 to Post Pals. We have already sent 3 out today to Jack Bradley B, Jack Peter B and Daniel M and we are sure they will be much appricated. Nathan's mum, Mandy, also mentioned us on a radio interview with CityTalk radio. A very big thank you to everyone who contributed to the ducks.

Talking of contribtuions - a very big thank you to Vicki, Hayley, Emma and Colette for their donations in memory of Samantha. We will certainly put them to good use and create lots of smilies in honour of Samantha.

We are trying to do some fundraising at the moment as we are currently a non profit organisation and to register as a charity we need to have an annual income of £5000. If you would like to fund raise for us in any way please drop us a line and we will gladly do what ever we can to help :) The money will be used to purchase cards and special gifts for the children featured.

Talking of fundraising, if you like the cool side of a pillow and get too hot in bed, then Chillow is the answer for you. It's a special gel pad you put in your pillow and it keeps you cool (but not cold), it doesn't even need refrigerating. If you purchase one from their website http://www.chillow.co.uk/ and select "Post Pals" from the drop down menu asking where you heard about them, they will donate 10% to us!

I will sign off with a picture of Jordan H and a quilt he was sent.

Database of details and email from Samantha's Dad

2008-04-23T06:42:00.000-07:00

Hello, a volunteer recently asked if we have a database of the childrens details so she could try and work her way through writing to them all. We have one with their name, DOB, fowarding address, interests and it can be found by joining our egroup here http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/postpals/ then clicking "Database". We hope it's helpful to you :)

Samantha's Dad sent us a lovely email and gave me permission to share. If you would like to make a donation in Samantha's memory, you can either send a donation via Paypal through the link on our home page www.postpals.co.uk or by sending a cheque made out to "Post Pals" and sent to Post Pals, PO Box 278, Leatherhead, Surrey, KT23 4WN. Please make a note on them that it is in Samantha's memory so I can tell her parents.

Thanks so much for your lovely e-mail and kind words of support.

I am getting e-mails from all over the world on how much Samantha has inspired them, and it is becoming increasingly clear that my little princess has touched and inspired so many people in every corner of the world in her short life than most of us could ever hope to achieve.

I feel so lucky to have had her in our lives and have learned so much from her, the world seems a much darker place without her.

I have asked my work and several people to donate to Post Pals rather than send flowers to Sam’s funeral. The last two years have been very difficult but both Samantha and Louis always managed a smile when they saw the Postman bring something for them. I want you to know I will never forget what you have done for my children and showed me just how many wonderful people there are out there.

Please stay in touch

Neil (Daddy)

Samantha

2008-04-16T06:44:00.000-07:00

We are very sad to say that Samantha H passed away on the 15/04/2008.

She loved receiving post and probably received more than any other Pal. One day she was crying during chemo and nothing would stop her crying. They gave her the post she had been sent and out of the card tumbled some confetti stars. Instantly, she stopped crying and spent the next 20 minutes making pretty patterns.

She inspired many around the world and will be missed by so many people.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to send some post to Samantha. Sympathy cards can be sent to the address on her page and please keep sending cheerful post to her brother Louis.

"Its not how long a star shines, what's remembered is the brightness of the light"

Sweets galore!

2008-04-08T06:44:00.000-07:00

Hello, a few people have mentioned probles with the link to the thank you from Samantha. If you couldn't view it, please click here and scroll down to the entry on the 18th of March. Sadly Samantha's cancer is spreading very rapidly and there is nothing other than pain relief that the doctors can do for her. Both Samantha and Louis love receiving post so please drop them a line if you can, it's a very difficult time for them all.

Our photo gallery has been updated with new pictures, just click here and then "Pals with Posty 2"

We recently sent to a lot of our Pals and siblings special party bags jam packed with sweets (and sugar free ones for diabetics). The money to cover these was kindly donated by JamFund who have also offered a holiday to the Post Pal families, so a very big thank you to them.

I will sign off with a picture of Milly and Alice with theirs,

The Works

2008-03-04T06:48:00.000-08:00

Hello, I'm just posting a short update to let people know who live near the stores "The Works" that 82 of them are closing down. They sold things like kids craft kits and little gifts cheaply anyway, but are now having closing down sales including "fill a large bag with greeting cards for a £1" so if you live near one it might be worth checking it out :)

Thank you to all of you who sent Post during February, it was nice to see the mail stats page looking busy :) Sadly 3 children have relapsed (cancer) this year alone and plenty more are in need of some TLC so please keep the smiles coming. Here is a picture of Kirsty with what arrived in the post one day.

Ps) If you have Myspace please add Post Pals as a friend, the link is http://www.myspace.com/postpals and we are also on Facebook.

Pals moving on

2008-02-08T06:48:00.000-08:00

Hello, there have been some changes to Post Pals this month with lots of families "Moving on", so post can be sent to those who need it the most as unfortunately most Pals didn't receive much post in January.

Moving on are Christian B and Toby B as they are off treatment and in remission. Faye T, Nicole D and Kat R as they are over 18. Hannah E as we haven't heard from her family since they joined. Hannah T, Jessica R, Karah D and Lucy P as their health is stable and Nicole B who was the first girl to join.

With Nicole leaving it now means we no longer have any of our original 5 Pals. I'm pleased to say though that James R and Simon H finished their 3 and half years of chemotherapy. Matty W has remained in remission, moved to France and as of the 1st of February is medication free. Nicole B is cancer free but she will continue to star on our leaflets. Sadly Jamie R who was the third child to join passed away, but both he and the other Pals will always very much be part of Post Pals. It wasn't easy starting up an organisation especially with our own health restrictions, but our first 5 Pals really spurred us on and inspired us to keep going.

If you used to write to one of the above Pals please consider writing to a "Current Pal" instead who is still in need of support, but THANK YOU to everyone who has supported them through the years.

A quick thank you also to Cara, Sarah, April, Katie and Fiona for making sure that all the Pals and siblings received a valentines card.

Our Mail Stats page is being fixed in the next couple of weeks but please keep entering the post you send.

To keep up to date with the goings on of Post Pals please see our egroup at http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/postpals, there is also a poll on there to decide what age range we send post to siblings and we would like to know your opinion.

Merry Christmas everyone

2007-12-19T06:50:00.000-08:00

I heard a little Christmas
in the laughter of a child
I saw a little Christmas
in a snowman's jolly smile,
I felt a little Christmas
when I have a gift away...
Just little things...
An yet they filled my heart
with joy today...

Merry Christmas everyone!

Christmas, Cards and Smiles

2007-11-29T06:50:00.000-08:00

This is a short entry to update you on our Christmas schemes and to share something one of our Pals parents has said.

Firstly thank you to everyone who has volunteered to be an Elf or Reindeer (see previous entry for details), we now have enough Reindeers but are on the look out for more Elves. Also, please ask your friends and family when they are doing their Christmas cards if they could spare a couple of minutes and do one or two more for a Post Pal child, it's amazing the difference it can make, which this message shows.

Jack B is having a very difficult time which sadly won't get any easier and his Mum sent us this message "Despite everything his moment of happiness has not been deprived to him… that moment being when ‘the postman’ arrives. More than ever we now appreciate the cards that are still arriving. In an effort to keep that sought after smile, we have taken to ‘drip feeding’ him the cards. A few in the morning after breakfast, a few more at lunchtime and few more in the afternoon... It is the little things in life that give the most pleasure. Those cards mean much more to us than most could realise. They keep us – his parents – alive too. While Jack was having his MIGB treatment he got cards AND more cards and AND more cards - it was great fun reading out the messages and working out how best arrange their display. Thank you to everyone who sent them in – I wish there were words to describe how much they are appreciated. The broke the boredom, the monotony, and towards the end of the week when Jack became sickly and lethargic, wanting only to lie in bed, his one bright moment was the arrival of ‘the postman’. I hope it is suffice to say that each card he received will provide us with a very precious memory, we intend to keep every single one".

Look out for an update soon with details of Stephanie W's exciting "Extra Smiles" or should that be "X factor Smiles" taking place this week...

Makea child's Christmas

2007-11-11T06:52:00.000-08:00

Hello, we are running our Christmas schemes again this year with the option for people to be Elves and Reindeer.

An Elf is someone who is assigned a child who they gather gifts up to the value of £15 for and sends them off in early December.

A Reindeer is someone who is assigned a young child and sends 9 cards during the month of December, one from each reindeer talking from the reindeers perspective ie talking about the sleigh getting full, getting ready for the big night etc.

In the past both schemes have proven very popular - one girl believed that the reindeer wrote to her because she helped her mum look after her disabled brother, and a little boy was reassured as the reindeer had written to him at the hospital which meant Santa knew that he was there so wouldn't get missed out. T

The Elf scheme always brings about huge smiles, Nikita loved her Elf parcel which she recieved a couple of weeks before she passed away last year.

If you would like to be an Elf or Reindeer (or both) then please drop us a line on info@postpals.co.uk stating your name, email address and how many children you would like to be an elf or reindeer for and also please let us know if you are happy to do an elf box for teenage boys as volunteers for this age group is hard to find.

It would also been a great help if you could forward this onto your address book please, post on blogs and message boards as we have 105 Elves to find!

Our Patron

2007-10-08T06:52:00.000-07:00

We will start off with Post Pal's big news, Fearne Cotton has been very supportive of Post Pals since finding out about us at last years National Lottery Good Causes Awards, and has kindly agreed to be our patron. She is well known for presenting a large range of television and radio shows as well as presenting BBC1's Children in Need. We are very honoured to have her support, you can read a quote from her on our testimonials page here.

Some lovely news came through from Harry G's mum. when Harry joined in May 2004 his seizures were severe enough that he was unable to even recognise his own family and wasn't expected to improve. Over the past 3 years he has made tremendous progress, at school they sing a registration song and recently for the first time ever Harry said "Here I am", his Mum now hope's with some help he will start speaking. There are many times we receive sad news about how our Pals are doing, so news like Harry's is a real tonic to us all.

We are took part in the "Great British Duck Race", a world record breaking, yes you've guessed it Duck Race. 170,000 rubber ducks each sponsored were released into the River Thames on the 2nd of September, thank you to those who sponsored a duck in aid of Post Pals, we raised just over £100.

Thank you to Jan and the staff at Charland Electronics Ltd for raising £30 by doing a draw for some bottles of drink, Jan also raised £7 earlier in the year by selling unwanted plant pots. £7 may not seem like a lot but it created 26 smiles.

Thank you also to all those who logged on after reading about us in Take a Break magazine (23rd of August), we were amazed at the positive response.

Shortly we will be launching our Christmas schemes, so check back on this page soon for details. We are also hoping to collect 40 cards with butterflies on for a mini project we are doing, if you can help by making some please let us know (details on the contact us page)

We will close with a photograph of our Pal Lewis with a soft comforter the Post Pal team sent him, and an email his Mum Samantha wrote.

"We came across Post Pals just before Christmas 2006 when we learned that our ill son was in fact very ill. Not long after joining Post Pals, we received a HUGE parcel of Christmas presents for both Lewis and his big brother Samuel and have continued to receive cards and letters and gifts ever since. The great thing about Post Pals is that you are not giving money to a faceless organisation. You are directly helping a particular child who you have chosen from the ever growing list of children on the website. Lewis now has lots of regular posters who write and email and we have made some great friends. It really does bring smiles and happiness to children who really need them. Particularly, knowing that you have brought a smile to the face of a little girl who 3 days later died of her condition cannot help but really touch your heart."

Go Quackers for Sick Kids

2007-08-21T06:53:00.000-07:00

We are taking part in the "Great British Duck Race", a world breaking, yes you've guessed it, Duck Race. 170,000 rubber ducks are being released into the river Thames, each one sponsered for a good cause. If your duck crosses the line first you win £10,000. Ducks only cost £2 plus a small donation, so please consider sponsoring one for Post Pals and ask your family and friends to. For every £26 raised a postcard will be sent to 100 seriously ill children and their siblings. To sponsor a duck click here

Samantha and Nicole D say Thanks

2007-08-19T06:47:00.000-07:00

We have a lovely Thank You from Samantha for you all to see, just click HERE

I've just finished reading Nicole D's book "The way I see it" which was published earlier this year. On the inside cover is a picture of Nicole in a pink wig which Post Pals managed to find for her. She said she would like one, so we hunted around and found the company Sparkly Strawberry who kindly provided seven - plus a pink hat which Nicole is wearing on the back cover! At the end of the book it has a paragraph about Post Pals which says;

"I joined Post Pals in 2006. It's a website for poorly children and the aim is to 'post a smile on a sick child's face'. Each 'Pal' has their own page with their details, things they like, updates and forwarding address. Anyone can write to them or sent them a gift to cheer them up when they're ill. Post Pals was set up in 2004 by five teenagers who all have health problems, with two of them being bedbound. They're all volunteers and spend a lot of time sending post to the 'Pals'. I've received letters, cards and presents from all over the world. I got a lot of post when I relapsed. I made a comment on my website that i wanted to get a pink wig, and someone sent me seven in different styles and shades of pink - one for each day of the week - and a pink cowboy hat. It really did make me smile. I was also sent 'Chemo duck', who is the coolest duck ever. He has little pyjamas on, and when you open his top he has a plaster on under it. When you take that off, he has a little plastic Hickman line in his chest. He also has a bandanna because he has lost all his feathers, bless him. Another one of my favourite things is that someone adopted a monkey for me in North Carolina. That's something I've wanted to do for as long as I can remember, as monkeys are my favourite animal. Post Pals is a fantastic site, and does a great job. If you have a spare five minutes, write to a child and help make them smile!"

It's true what they say, sometimes it's the little things in life that are important. For Nicole this meant a pink wig, and for Chloe K this currently means earrings. She desperately wants to have her ears pierced but the doctor's won't allow it and her Mum was unable to find any clip on ones for her. Cue Post Pal volunteers to spring into action, hunting around the Internet and shops then sending magnetic ones. Chloe can now wear earrings just like her friends.

So in the words of Samantha "Thank you to everybody in the whole wide world for all their cards and presents!"

Megan R

2007-07-25T06:54:00.000-07:00

We are very sad to say our Pal Megan R passed away on the 24th of June 2007. She spent 6 months in Alder Hey before being able to go home in late May to enjoy as much time as possible. When she was discharged her Dad sent us this message;

We can’t thank all the people out there who were so thoughtful and kind enough to send Megs those special little (and some not so little) packages. It really cheered her up, particularly on the down days when it seemed that getting home was never going to happen.

March 2007

2007-03-31T06:59:00.000-07:00

I'm afraid we have to start this news entry with some sad news, Amelia P passed away on the 17th of March. She was very weak for her last two weeks, but still managed to ask her Nanny every day if any post had arrived. A volunteer described Amelia as a "bundle of sunshine", and we couldn't agree more.

On other news, Milford-on-Sea Primary school held a mufti day and part of the proceeds have kindly been donated to Post Pals. The £135 raised will be used for postage to send out lots of cards and gifts. Year 5 and 6 were also introduced to Post Pals in their ICT lesson and wrote some letters. A huge thank you to everyone at Milford-on-Sea Primary school for their support and for creating so many smiles!

On news about our Pals, we are pleased to be able to say that Jack M and Summer have finally finished their chemotherapy. Lauren K has moved on from Post Pals, and there is a change of address for Lucy P and Anna Mae C. Anna Mae recently sent us this Thank you,

We are introducing a new feature on the news page, the "story behind the photograph".

When James was let out of hospital after being diagnosed and his first part of treatment we sent him and Philippa (his sister) some cake mix. They had great fun making them - the kit only cost 99p with £1.50 postage - but the smiles are truly priceless. They can all be seen here, but the one beneath in particular acted as inspiration to the team in our early days and helped us keep going.

Until next time, keep posting :)

2 new ways to help!

2007-03-21T06:46:00.000-07:00

We are launching 2 projects this week to make it even easier to make a sick child smile! We ran them a couple of years ago and found them a big success with both volunteers and Pals enjoying it!

Project 1) Print 1 sheet a week. Do you have time to print 1 sheet of paper a week? If so then this is for you! You will be assigned a child and once a week a word document containing a card and message will be emailed to you. All you have to do is simply hit print, fold the card, sign your name and pop it in the post to your assigned child. It's really as simple as that and it would guarantee every Pal and sibling a piece of post a week. To take part please email Lorna with your name, email address, how many children you would like to write to and if you would prefer a young or older child. Her address is lornarogers@hotmail.com

Project 2) Could you commit to sending 1 piece of post every 2 weeks? We are looking for volunteers so every Pal and sibling will have someone assigned to them. We have found both poster and child really benefit from hearing from someone regularly, especially the siblings, who often don't get as much attention as the ill child. This is a longer term commitment, although not strict, so if you miss a week it doesn't matter. To take part email Emma through her email address snowberry2@tiscali.co.uk with your name, email address and how many children you would like to be assigned to.

Please forward this onto friends and post on message boards/blogs etc as we have a lot of children these days!

NB: If you have taken part in these schemes in the past, we are starting them from afresh, so you will be re-assigned to someone.

Happy New Year

2007-01-07T06:59:00.000-08:00

We hope you all had a very Merry Christmas! Lots of post was sent to our children, and our Elf and Reindeer schemes were a big hit with Pals and siblings. They were thrilled that Father Christmas' reindeer were writing to them and of course, with the Elf scheme, what child wouldn't be over the moon with a big pile of gifts! On the subject of gifts Georgies Fund sent lots of wonderful toys to some of our families, including a giant Scalextrics kit to Mollie's family, a Robosapien V2 to Lewis and a big baby monkey to Anna Mae- it was her favourite gift this Christmas.

We hope you like all the changes that have been made to our website. We have a new way of reporting post sent which you can find here, and if you have some spare time have a browse through our gallery.

Onto some sad news;

Nikita passed away on Christmas Eve 2006. Right up until she passed away, she would text a family friend to ask if any Post Pal post had arrived - and there always was something, due to you all. Her funeral is on the 9th, she is going to be burried wrapped in her Post Pal quilt. Nikita's favourite song was S Club's "Never had a dream come true", we will always remember her when we hear that song.

Nathan V passed away on November the 24th 2006. I don't think we have ever had such a young pal grasp the concept of Post Pals so well. His mum had said how he would open his mail and "read" it out to her and Jessica "To Nathan, get well soon, love people". So thank you to all you "people" who took the time to brighten his day and remember him now he is no longer here.

Thank you's

2007-01-06T06:49:00.000-08:00

As we move onto another new year we thought it was time to reflect back on 2007 which has been an amazing time for Post Pals.

During the past year we have supported 105 children, making them smile day in day out no matter how hard life has been. Jack S's mum recently said "It’s a fab organisation that brightens the day of a child who can’t understand why life’s not great some days. Jack knows that whatever treatment or procedure he has to have he will always have Posty to look forward to!"

When Jack B relapsed and his cancer was rapidly spreading around his body his Mum updated us to say; "Despite everything his moment of happiness has not been deprived to him... that moment being when ‘the postman’ arrives. More than ever we now appreciate the cards that are still arriving. In an effort to keep that sought after smile, we have taken to ‘drip feeding’ him the cards. A few in the morning after breakfast, a few more at lunchtime and few more in the afternoon... It is the little things in life that give the most pleasure. Those cards mean much more to us than most could realise. They keep us – his parents – alive too".

The success of Post Pals rests on one thing, people like yourselves logging on and sending a card, letter, small gift, donation, email etc. Those kind words you have sent have brought comfort, built self confidence, given hope, broken through isolation and most of all created very large grins.

So onto the Thank you's;

Kate for keeping the Pals pages up to date and doing our feedback forms, Richard for being our Webguru and fixing anything that goes wrong with the site, creating new pages as well as hosting Post Pals for free, Sandra Dave and Carol M for their beautiful handmade cards as well as members of Do Crafts, Collette who has taken on a big job of creating packs for groups and doing sessions with Guides about Post Pals, Nicky Walker and Kathryn Dickinson who have helped with a vartiey of jobs. Sue C for running Make and Give to kids - a craft group making things for Post Pals, Rebecca at Lottery Good Causes who has helped us with publicity and raising awareness, Dawn for her help with coverage, members of Money Saving Expert for all the visitors to our site form their forum, Tony Britton for helping us raise awareness both of ME and Post Pals.

Also to Georgies Fund, Project Linus, Kids Who Care, Dabbles and Doodles, Angels for Hope, Robyn Brooks Trust and Dreams Come True.

Moonpig who kindly let us send their amazing personalised cards without charge, you can see one of the End of Chemo style cards we send here. Bambino Baby who continue to send handmade gifts and cheerful emails every month to Pals as well as recruiting new volunteers. Bizzy Balloons who have been supporting us longer than any other company and send our balloon bouquets to children who need some extra TLC. Chartland Electronics for fundraising and general support. Free post 4 U who donate envelopes and postage stamps as well as telling all their elist about us, Sparkling Strawberry for donating bright pink wigs, Diggerland for making Darin's dream come true, Debbie Bone for their donation and offer of a cake in the future. Dawn and Steve George for putting up with Post Pals taking over their house (it looks like a mix between a mail room and the North Pole), endless trips to the post office and taking numerous phonecalls, Cliff Rogers for also doing endless trips to the postoffice, Jenny Christian for spending 6 solid hours wrapping presents at Christmas, Fearne Cotton for sending post, being our Patron and for the tickets to TV shows, Beccy for the theatre tickets, Jack M's Grandparents and Mrs Glaze who raised the most money ever donated to Post Pals.

To the schools from UK, Spain and Japan who have got involved as well as the Brownie's and Guides who work hard to create smiles and St Matthews Sunday School in Chelston who regualarly send post.

To the following for sending post recenty, Maria Carney, Debbie Robinson, Rebecca Butler, Helen and Gilliam Brierly, Lu, Mike Bright, the whole Barrett family, Leslie Phillips, Jeff Foxley, Julie Ashton, Amanada Fraser, Sarah Bentley, Judith VIlkauskas, Karen, Jen, Jenn Houston, Karen Reece-May, Hayley Thorn, Callum and Berenice, Tom Smith, Susanna Wilde, Lucia,Becki Luscombe, Capricia Peart, Helen Turner, Jane Kent, Laura H's friend, Jane Kent, Lucy Clark, Holly Lane, Marjolijn van Vliet, Ceilia Foot, Merry, sarah gilligan, Sophie P, Sian, Rachel Laws, Debbie Robinson, our mystery lady from Isreal, Anna, Rebekah Morley. A very special thank you must go out to the parents of our Pals (and often the Pals themselves) who some how find the time to write to other children featured. To Pals Chloe G and Laura H who spend so many hours making cards, writing letters and sending emails to other Pals to make their day and never forgetting a birthday - Laura even donated her pocket money to buy stamps.

I know there are so many people I've missed out of this update and I'm sorry about that, but we appreciate every single thing that people have done for Post Pals during 2007. You have all helped bring sunshine during dark days.

We hope that everyone has a happy 2008 and once again, THANK YOU!

Christmas at Post Pals

2006-12-17T07:00:00.000-08:00

Welcome to our new news page. We will soon be posting here with information on upcoming birthdays, projects and general news.

Currently our Reindeer and Elf projects are under way so Pals are receiving cards from all of Santa's reindeer, and a box of gifts from his elf. Ellie thinks that the reindeer write to her because she is good and helps look after her brother Harry which is exactly the reason why they write :)

Lots of Christmas cards are being sent, and smiles being posted on faces, this picture is of Nikita and a bear that was in her Elf box;

Our website is under going changes at the moment so keep checking back for updates and changes.

We would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a very Merry Christmas!

We have had over 1 MILLION VISITORS!

2006-12-12T07:01:00.000-08:00

Post Pals is happy to announce that we have had over 1,000,000 visitors to our site. This happend sometime last week. To view a counter of our visitors please see the bottom of our home page. :smile: